Snowblind (A Mother's Love)
by 5557
Summary: Izuku Midoriya is excited for Class 1-A's winter field trip to the mountains. He may not be the best skier of the bunch, but he's no slouch. Shoto Todoroki, however, is something else. What starts out as a friendly competition on the slopes may end up as something entirely different altogether...
1. Rising Son

This story is dedicated to Rina (todoyamas), who won a challenge in our zine discord, and to our mods, Jelly and Jammy for creating such an awesome experience.

This was a really fun warm-up experiment writing for a new fandom and also trying to capture that really action/adventure shounen anime style. Lots to learn from this series and I hope to contribute more!

(Yes, I am very aware of the timeline issue of setting a winter story after the sports festival. Let's just say this is an AU where the festival happened in March and they went skiing late in the season. It's really not connected to the rest of the series)

Thanks Rina for the prompt!

Warm air blasted through the vents of the bus, mixing with puffs of hot breath to form steamy clouds on the inner windows. Fingers streaked the glass, drawing smiley faces, tic-tac-toe games and, in the case of a certain student, a rude turn of phrase. "Deku sucks" got wiped away by a quick elbow, and laughter filled the vehicle as it rumbled along, climbing up the winding mountain road in the early morning hours.

Izuku still considered himself lucky. He'd missed his chance to sit with Ochaco, who'd gotten on first, and was crowded in behind Koda. Iida had gotten on last, and was sitting up at the very front by the teachers. So Izuku, stuck in the middle, had guessed his way along the half-filled rows and taken his seat beside Shoto Todoroki for the two-and-a-half-hour trip.

This guy, Midoriya concluded, had to be a skiing expert. Born with ice in his blood and frost in his fingertips, powerful enough to place second in the sports tournament, yet still stoic and reserved with a quiet confidence. He'd boarded the bus with a full bag of professional ski equipment, sleek black-and-silver double-layered sport jacket, and a determined stare. Surely, definitely, this was someone who knew a thing or two about snow.

Izuku took the seat beside him, cradling his lumpy bag of hand-me-down gear in his lap. Todoroki barely nodded his acknowledgement as the bus engine rumbled to life in the predawn darkness.

"I guess we're like bus buddies, huh?" he offered, throwing Todoroki a cheesy grin.

"You could say that."

The response was… understated. Shoto turned to face him and his bi-coloured eyes bore into Izuku. He could feel his palms beginning to sweat and the moisture leaving his mouth making it hard to swallow. Why was Todoroki always so calm and cool all the time?

"You've got some really nice gear," Izuku continued, not knowing where his mouth was taking him. "Mine's all… old, but I'm sure it'll still work out ok. I bet you're really good at this! I'm ok, I've been skiing a couple times before, I'm not the best, but I'm ok." Crap, he said he was ok twice. "Haha, well, I guess we're like partners together for this! Unless you don't want to be, that's ok too, but we're here to learn and it'll be a great learning experience, I bet!"

Todoroki nodded very slowly. Izuku took the hint.

Izuku had planned, truly, at some point, to ask him a few tips. And he really was going to talk to Todoroki during their ride. At the right opportunity. When it presented itself. But soon after the bus left the school grounds and exited onto the highway, Todoroki closed his eyes and sat very still and Izuku couldn't tell if he was sleeping or meditating or contacting aliens with his brainwaves.

And so Izuku waited, watching Shoto gently breathe in and out from the side of his vision.

Of course, Izuku didn't, perhaps, need to ask Todoroki for help. He could always use the trip for personal practice, channeling One For All into his entire body and using the experience as a way to further his training. He could certainly take some notes. On the other hand, this trip might also give him a way to observe his classmates in a different environment and see who was likely to be adapted to a snowy, mountainous terrain and who might struggle to accommodate their bodies and quirks into a-

"You're mumbling," Todoroki whispered, rolling towards the steamy window.

Crap. Izuku clamped his hands on his face, biting down on his tongue as the bus slammed a pothole on the gravelly mountain backroad. Did he say One For All out loud?

Todoroki didn't seem affected, still gazing bleary-eyed at the fog-coated window. He blinked twice, rubbed his eyes, and yawned, stretching out from the slumped hunch he'd been sleeping in. Then he raised his fingers and lightly grazed the glass, instantly clearing away the condensation from the purple-hued haze. Izuku let out a little gasp. Several other students gawked as well.

Todoroki's touch revealed a sweeping view of the valley below. Golden arcs of sunlight were just beginning to creep into the skyline, shifting the rich pinkish morning colours to pale gold and light blue. Illuminating wide stretches of patchwork farms and tiny highways that ran along the valley floor, dotted with even tinier cars scooting along, all the way to the dwarfed city skyscrapers on this cold, cloudless spring morning. Everything was as it should be today, without the need for heroes.

Izuku's gaze swept up the mountainside to where they were now. The trees surrounding their ride had shifted from bare, scraggly brown stumps to tall and mysterious evergreens looming over the steep road they climbed past the snowline. Izuku watched the ground change. First a few dirty old lumps of melting ice here and there, then patchy areas of white. And then, after a while, a solid blanket of soft snow covering the trees and the road, promising piles of fresh powder upon arrival at the resort.

Soon.

Izuku's stomach tightened with excitement. They really were up high, now.

"Alright, settle down." Mr Aizawa stood up at the front, zipping the rest of his puffy black jacket that made him look like an overinflated tire. "We're nearly there. Hands up if you have prior ski experience. We're going to partner you all in groups with someone who knows what they're doing."

Five hands rose into the air. Aizawa counted them off.

"Yaoyorozu, Aoyama, Tokoyami, Hagakure and Sato. You'll be group leaders. Anyone else?"

The chattering ceased. And Izuku felt the distinct presence of many eyes suddenly pointed in his direction. Everyone was looking at Todoroki beside him. Waiting, expectantly. His gaze shifted over all the sudden, silent faces.

"I'd rather spend this trip doing my own thing, if you don't mind."

"That's… fair," Asui croaked.

And Todoroki turned back to the window, saying nothing for the rest of the trip.

* * *

Everyone hurried off the bus in one giant rush of boots and noise and adolescent excitement. Behind them, the bus for class 1B pulled up and deposited its own passengers into the icy parking lot below the ski village. Then the busses for the support and general courses. All in all, there had to be nearly a hundred students and teachers milling about, calling out attendance and organizing themselves.

It was a nice change, moving from the dense city air into the glaring sunlight of the mountains. Izuku breathed deeply, appreciating the chilly breeze filtering through the tall pines. He loved listening to the fresh crunch of hardpack under his boots and the excited chatter of students and holidaymakers all around. He slung his bag onto his back and waited impatiently in line for arrivals to finish.

Aizawa had everyone sign in and dump their overnight bags at the lodge before they were allowed to get changed and head to the slopes. Izuku's was the large room at the very end of the hall that smelled faintly of wood smoke and wet clothes and sweaty feet. Three log cabin-style bunk-beds crowded a rustic window that overlooked the mountainside, and let the warm morning sunlight pour in. Izuku had precious few seconds to appreciate the sight as the five other boys he was stuck with this weekend piled in, hurrying to get changed as fast as humanly possible. And that meant-

Izuku clutched his bag tightly to his chest. Maybe he could just get ready and slip out the door after everyone else was done.

"I wonder why Todoroki was so quiet on the way up." said Shoji, unpacking three sets of gloves. "Didn't seem like he wanted to lead at all."

Kaminari popped his head through his thermal undershirt. "Maybe he's on a different level and he just doesn't want to hang around with us."

"Did you see his gear?" Kirishima asked, pulling on his boots. "That's what olympic athletes and pro mountaineering heroes use!"

"Must have cost a small fortune," Izuku nodded. He fluffed his pillow, trying to look busy. "I bet he can pull some amazing stunts."

"Not as good as me!" Bakugou interrupted, needlessly flexing in his snow pants.

"Hey, Midoriya," Mineta piped up from underneath Shoji's discarded shirt, "you gonna get dressed or what?"

Izuku sat on his bed, procrastinating to the best of his ability until the others were done and ready. He'd almost made it through by carrying on that conversation about Todoroki until Mineta had ruined it for him. But now he looked suspicious and everyone else wanted to get moving. Izuku sighed, slowly opening his bag and revealing the contents inside.

"Oh my god , you nerd! " Bakugou shrieked. "I cannot fucking be seen with you!"

* * *

"If you've never skied before, a good thing to do is warm up and stretch before you get started." Momo Yaoyorozu stood in front of the gathered semicircle of students, all clad in warm winter jackets and stick-on day-passes. A fresh whip of cold air buffeted the group, and Izuku could smell the cold tang of frozen air blowing off the high peaks as the bright mid-morning sunlight glinted off the icy ground.

"Yeah, we know, Momo," said Jiro, fiddling with the settings of the Gopro attached to her helmet, "We warm up before every physical class."

Iida stepped in. "Do not disrespect the group leader, Jiro-san! She has valuable experience for us all!"

"Er, well, yeah." Momo tried desperately to regain her composure. "But, really make sure to target your legs and ankles so you don't strain the muscles! Lunges are great!" She laughed nervously, demonstrating a few swings.

"This is useless," Bakugou growled, "I'm heading to the halfpipe. Bye, fuckers!" And with that, he stomped his foot into his rental snowboard and kicked away towards the trick park.

"Bakugou!" Iida yelled after him, "You should have raised your hand if you had prior ski experience!"

"I didn't want to be in charge of anyone," he spat over his shoulder.

"Mr Aizawa!"

Aizawa, leaning against a ski rack, shrugged. "I didn't want him to be in charge of anyone. Anyway, if you need me, I'll be in the lodge. Stay in your groups and make sure you don't break anything."

"Sir," Asui asked, "Do you mean equipment or bones?"

Mr Aizawa made a vague hand gesture as he sauntered off towards the central recreation building with the other teachers.

Great. Left alone without adult supervision. That wasn't a recipe for disaster if Deku ever heard of one. Fortunately, Momo managed to wrangle the rest of the class back into order and they went over safety rules and regulations while the other team leaders demonstrated how to attach their skis and hold the poles.

Izuku looked around at everyone else getting ready. Some had their own sets of winter gear, others like Shoto had an entire set of equipment. Some had never been skiing before, combining rentals and borrowed pieces like him. In all the excitement, they'd stopped laughing at him altogether. That was nice.

Todoroki sure did look sporty and professional in his gear. Sleek silver-and-black coat, warm zippered white pants, and a pair of finely-jointed sport gloves instead of the awkward, puffy blue mits Midoriya wore. Everything expensive and brand-name and matching like it was supposed to.

Why on earth did he have to stand beside Izuku for their entire orientation?

There was no hiding it now. Especially standing right next to Mr. Cool. Izuku fussed helplessly with his oversized neon pink and teal winter jacket. "Cute!" Ochako had called it, as he'd left the his room, head hanging, and pocketed his rental ticket. Or hideous, Izuku thought, wearing his mother's hand-me-down with jagged purple stripes that screamed 'clearly from the 90s'.

His mom had chided him gently as she cinched in the belt the previous night, saying how they didn't need to go out and buy a brand new jacket when the one they already owned fit perfectly fine. And besides, Izuku was carrying on a family tradition. This is what she wore when she and his father first met.

"I used to be quite a catch, you know, when he slid in and swept me off my feet!" She giggled, adjusting his sleeves and reveling in her son's utter embarrassment.

"Midoriya, you look… uh…" Todoroki searched for some appropriate words while he watched Izuku try to snap his boots into his skis.

"Easily identifiable in the snow," said Iida. "Nothing wrong with that."

"Thanks Iida," Izuku laughed, catching Todoroki's small smirk. "Yeah, this jacket used to belong to my mom. And she- Oh hey, speaking of, did you guys want some sunscreen? She said it was going to be really bright today, and that the sun will be reflecting off of the snow, and it could give you a... nasty-" Izuku froze and clamped his tongue.

"Come on you guys," Kirishima shouted. "Daylight's wasting!"

Todoroki's smile had disappeared, and class 1A headed off toward the practice slopes.

* * *

After dividing up the students, Izuku found himself in Tokoyami's group, with Todoroki, Ashido, and an empty spot where Bakugou would have been. Tokoyami was a careful teacher, insisting on testing each of his charges on the practice hill before allowing anyone further up the mountain.

Mina had a natural affinity for the sport. She was so used to using her quirk to skate and slide on the inner-city concrete that the transition to downhill skiing seemed like second nature. She took up all of Tokoyami's attention on her first run, zipping down the bunny hill ahead of him, weaving around classmates and shouting her glee to the other girls.

By contrast, Todoroki looked stiff and stern on top of the hill. Like he wanted to conquer the entire mountain, but was politely holding in his incomprehensible ice powers for the sake of group cohesion. Impressive. He waited quietly beside Izuku as they stood beside each other, and Izuku wondered just how hard this guy was judging him.

Tokoyami waved at him from the bottom. Izuku took a gulp of cold air, forcing himself to focus on the hill and not on the person standing next to him. Now or never. He gripped the poles, swallowed deeply and pushed off from the top of the learner's hill.

Izuku felt the sudden rush of motion, and heard the slick sound of packed snow under his skis as he built up a bit of speed. Yes. His heart lightened and joy flooded through his body as gravity took him, pulling him forward, faster. Time stopped as Izuku carved the snow, summoning up old muscle memory and working his new teenage body into the sport.

Deku had been on this mountain before. When he was a child, he remembered going tobogganing and kiddie-skiing with his parents before his dad went away to work overseas. He was barely old enough to waddle up the hills in his snowsuit, and howl with excitement as his mom tucked him into her lap and together they sped down those steep hills.

Or at least, they seemed a lot steeper when he was a kid.

Then, once more in elementary school, he and Kacchan had been here for another school trip. It was the first time Deku had put skis on his own feet. He wasn't half bad, but at that age, most of the other kids had started developing their quirks, and Izuku was left to fend for himself in the family areas while packs of students roamed the lower hills. It was only on the bus ride home that Izuku heard the story of how Bakugou snuck away from the teachers, all the way up to the top of the peak.

Judging by the way he'd glided off towards the terrain park, Kacchan must have kept it up.

Izuku's ankles were getting used to this. Leg muscles flexing, guiding the skis left and right, he followed Tokoyami's pilot trail down the hill. Having a quirk now certainly changed things. Izuku no longer had to hold himself back and play it safe, he could exert himself and test his own limits, knowing he was a real contender if he put his mind to it.

But where was-? He risked a glance over his shoulder, and Izuku's stomach flopped. Todoroki was right there behind him. Like a silent shadow. Accelerating and dangerously close- almost hitting the tips of his skis! Izuku swerved to avoid an impact, and Todoroki swerved with him. He zagged the other way, and Todoroki quickly followed suit. Great. Competition. Already Shoto wanted to turn this into a race.

Izuku leaned into the slope, allowing himself a bit more speed. Just to get ahead, he told himself. He wasn't going to take any bait. But the faster he went, the louder he heard the soft skiff of Shoto's skis behind him, and Izuku's stomach settled itself quite comfortably in his throat. So this was how it was gonna be.

Izuku made it to the bottom to a friendly wave from Ashido and an icy spray of snow hitting the side of his head not two seconds later, followed by a heavy-fisted thump on his back. Really? Was that really necessary? He stood there, dripping cold water off his bangs as Shoto plunged his poles in the ground and adjusted the velcro on his gloves.

"You're pretty fast."

Was that- a compliment? Was Todoroki just messing with him? Trying to psych him out like the sports tournament? Izuku wiped the snow out of his hair and circled around to Tokoyami, about to give his final verdict. Who knew with this guy and his intense gaze and his handsome face and weird monotone. Todoroki was always so impossible to read.

And now he was turning and walking away. And Tokoyami was looking at him. What did he want? Crap. Izuku hadn't responded at all! "Y-yeah, you too," he sputtered without thinking. Ashido gave him a thumbs up.

Tokoyami decided they were all good enough for some intermediate runs, and together they packed their little group onto a chairlift that brought them roughly halfway up the mountain. Ashido beside Tokoyami in front, and behind them...

"So... Together again. All the way up, huh?" Izuku forced a nervous smile. And again, Shoto was dead-silent, glaring out over the lift's guardrail at the random skiers fifty feet below. Judging their technique, probably. Judging him? Is that why he wasn't talking? Izuku's mind slowly worked itself into a panic. Was it something he said? Was it the sunscreen comment? Did Shoto have it out for him?

Todoroki turned to face him. "We're bus buddies," he said, completely serious, and went back to staring out at the snow.

* * *

One awkward, silent ride later, Izuku arrived to a pleasant surprise at the half-top of the mountain. "Midoriya!" Ochaco waved at him, pushing her way between Yaoyorozu and Ojirou, crowded with their groups around the park map. "Hey there, you pink cutie!" She laughed, presumably at the way Izuku clumsily departed the chairlift. "Fancy seeing you up here!"

Izuku's heart fluttered in his lumpy jacket. Everyone around him seemed to fade into the distance and his mother's words flashed through his mind. Here. Up on the ski hill. This was where his parents first met. The coat his mom wore when his dad swooped in and swept her off her feet. And then they fell in love and were married ten months later.

Izuku knew he was grinning a big dumb goofy grin. Still, he could see himself like that. Cool and impressive, ready to slide in and charm a nice girl and also pull some sweet stunts. Maybe Ochaco and him could take a trail alone together later…

Izuku felt the blush rising in his cheeks, conveniently blaming it on exercise or the warm sun shining overhead.

Yaoyorozu's group decided to take the slalom. And Izuku watched as Ochaco, last in line, dipped over the edge of the hill and out of sight with the rest of them. "See you at the bottom!" She yelled, with an adorable "woop!"

Yeah. Definitely.

"Hey, dummy, we're over here doing the Pronged Stag run!" Ashido laughed, yanking Izuku's arm and his thoughts back into the present. "You're about as distracted as Todoroki today. You guys gotta learn to keep up!"

This intermediate run wasn't a steep drop down the mountain like the slalom, instead it consisted of a slowly winding path that snaked through the dense forest on the outer edges of the park, eventually curving back and around into the main village.

Although it wasn't steep, the trail's swooping curves and hidden turns meant that a novice still had to be on their game and in control of their shifting direction. And Deku was. Warmed up and ready to go, Izuku could easily handle the bends in hs path- when he wasn't being hounded by Todoroki who often careened ahead of him, recklessly risking breakneck turns.

By all accounts, Deku could risk being a bit more aggressive with his moves. He had the knowledge and the skill. He could. But- why? This was supposed to be fun, wasn't it? They weren't training for life and death situations. This was a holiday, not an olympic race. But here was Shoto, riding his heels at every single turn, egging him on with his aggressive maneuvers. He just wanted a fight, didn't he?

On one final downward bend, the four of them had to follow along the cliffside, navigating the swooping rounds of an almost 360 degree turn and a sharp cliff on their left side. Izuku kept himself in the middle of the trail as Ashido hugged the wall with Tokoyami behind them, watching.

But not Mr Cool, oh no. Todoroki zoomed past Deku, poles tucked, heading dangerously near the sharp cliff. He looked half-ready to jump off. Was he-? No. That would be suicide. Turn. Turn, Shoto. What the fuck. Shoto, turn now! Surely this kid didn't have a deathwish!

"Watch out!" Izuku screamed instinctively, making a desperate grab at the hem of Todoroki's jacket. But it was too late. Izuku's mitt grasped only air.

A sharp ridge of ice exploded up and out of the ground at Todoroki's feet, curving around the cliff edge, and preventing Shoto from going over. But Izuku didn't have time to stop or even brace himself before hitting the ice full-force. He slammed into the rigid structure face-first, while Todoroki gently swung down the side, curving around the curving lip.

Cold. 'Cold' and 'Hard' were the only two things that registered in Izuku's brain as he came back to his senses. Heck it all. He'd tried to save Shoto and got a face full of ice as his reward. Perfect. Good thing Ochaco wasn't watching. Tokoyami skid to a halt behind him and even Ashido stopped, momentarily, to see what was going on.

"Jeez, dude," Izuku snorted as he stood up and wiped the blood from his face, flicking it onto the gleaming white snow. "If you wanted to take me out, you could have just asked for my number..." He laughed away the trickle of blood on his lip and caught Todoroki's smirk as he slowly side-stepped his way back up the hill. Oh, shit! That was actually a good one.

Well. It wasn't too bad, Izuku supposed. Looked worse. He'd bitten his cheek a bit, but otherwise it was more of a surprise than anything else. Izuku spat one more time, getting the last of the blood out of his mouth and nose, and he definitely looked kinda tough and cool doing it.

"I'm sorry." Todoroki sounded genuine. And he did offer Deku a tissue from his pocket. Izuku decided to shrug off the whole incident, hoping this near miss might knock some sense into Todoroki and he'd cut out the rest of their foolish competition.

But it didn't stop.

Todoroki's racing and roughhousing continued down the next two runs, steadily ramping up in intensity as they took on more difficult trails. Aside from being utterly terrified, Izuku was starting to get fed up with constantly having to watch for the cold menace that always seemed to hover around his shoulder, whacking him, grabbing onto him, and pulling him down into the snow.

"Sheesh. And I thought Bakugou was rough," he mumbled to Tokoyami as they waited in their next chairlift line while Todoroki quickly used the washroom. Izuku dropped his poles to massage his battered were definitely going to be bruised and sore tomorrow. "What's his deal?"

"Please, Midoriya-kun," Tokoyami leaned in, "be respectful."

Respectful? After that last nightmare where Shoto nearly cut Izuku's legs out from under him? Izuku felt the heat rising in his cheeks. "He's certainly not respecting me!"

"Everyone's doing their best." Ashido quipped over her shoulder, budding in on their conversation. "Just relax try to have fun, dude."

What the actual hell?

Nevermind. It was still a gorgeous day outside, and at least they weren't stuck in school. Izuku had better things to think about, watching the crowd of happy skiers passing by, laughing and chatting, and in that cluster-

"Uraraka!" Izuku waved frantically, finally glad, for once, he was stuck wearing a searing neon-pink coat. 'Easily identifiable in the snow' indeed.

"Hey, you! How was your run?" Ochaco slid her way out of the crowd and over to Izuku's place in line. And then her bright smile suddenly disappeared. "Midoriya is that- blood? "

"Oh! Yeah- sorry!" Deku made a few more panicked swipes at his face with his dirty mitts and stopped when Ochaco rolled her eyes.

"It's- sort of on your chin..." she smiled, grabbing a tissue out of her pocket and gently wiping his face. "Hold still."

Izuku Midoriya would freeze to the spot if she told him to.

"What happened?"

"Todoroki happened," Izuku said, trying not to scowl too hard.

"Oh?" Ochaco cocked her head. "Well," she tucked the tissue into Izuku's pocket beside the one Todoroki gave him, "you'll have to tell me all about it at lunch!"

She took her hand out of his pocket. And back. And away from reachable, acceptable hand-holding distance. Nope, now it was retreating back into her own jacket. Crud. Awfulsauce. But, wait what did she say?

"At lunch?" Oof, yeah, his voice just cracked. Why was she walking away again? "Hey, w-where are you going?"

"Over to the terrain park!" Ochaco pointed with her ski pole over to the southern end of the village, where the corner of a large halfpipe was visible behind the lodge. "Sero's using Kirishima's hardening quirk as a human snowboard and our group wants to check it out! Oh, it looks like your line is moving! Hope Todoroki gets back soon! Have fun!" She waved with those wonderfully pink-gloved, unreachable, unholdable hands and was gone. Again.

And of course Izuku had to be stuck in line while Ochaco went off to do something awesome and fun, with awesome, fun people, and he was stuck here with Dark and Brooding, Cotton Candy Cheerleader and the Icy Terror. Fudgemuffin. Maybe… Maybe next time he'd catch her. Maybe after lunch. The day was young, and Izuku Midoriya still had plenty of time to feet-sweep.

* * *

Izuku finally snapped on their fourth run. He didn't consider himself to be an angry person, honestly. But, damn it, he was just trying to have a nicefucking day. This was the zillionth time Shoto had cut him off, or clipped his poles or sprayed him with snow. The back of his neck was dripping wet and freezing-ass cold, and he was definitely getting bruised shoulders from constantly being smacked and grabbed and rammed into.

Like, yeah, sure, maybe Midoriya wasn't the best skier around, and maybe he didn't have the best and newest top-tier gear to show off with, but at least he wasn't a complete hecking snowdouche.

Enough was enough.

They were halfway down the mountain, stopped in a low-traffic side-area between runs. Ashido was somewhere off trail, convincing Tokoyami to take photos of her with a very extroverted squirrel, and Shoto had just used his ice powers, again , causing Izuku's skis to suddenly freeze in place and Izuku to flop face-forward into the snow.

Izuku spat out a mouthful of dirty slush, hoisting himself onto his elbows to see Shoto staring calmly down at him, silently offering him a hand back up.

"Dude! What is wrong with you?" He shouted at Todoroki's outstretched palm. "Do you think you're being funny?" And, frankly, what was up with that? Always treating Izuku like crap, but saying how he was so sorry, or offering his hand. Why not just kick him while he was down or rub salt in the wound? It would at least be more consistent.

Todoroki didn't move from his position. He waited, calmly standing over Izuku as his white hair blocked out the sun behind him, its harsh glow framing him like some sort of angelic skiing disaster.

Izuku grumbled, sighed, bit his tongue, and took Shoto's hand. A hand offered was a hand offered, but-

Shoto overcompensated.

Izuku couldn't catch his balance, and Shoto tripped on his own skis, causing both of them to tumble another ten feet off the side of the mountain into a large drift. Izuku was now trapped under Todoroki, covered in snow up to the collar, and he could hear Ashido losing her mind with laughter from her position way back up the hill.

"Sweet hecking fuckberries, Shoto! Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Izuku growled, wrenching himself out from under his classmate. "Iswear to god! What the fuck is up!?"

Shoto deigned to lift his body off of Izuku, pulling himself up to a sitting position. He sighed heavily, refusing to say anything, choosing instead to stare at the snow covering his legs.

Not answering, huh? Izuku scrambled to his feet, looking for his other ski pole. The one that flew out of his hand when he fell. Shoto still wasn't talking. Yeah, tough guy, see how it feels.

There it was- three feet away, jammed sideways into the snow. Izuku made a grab for it while Shoto just sat there, sunk into the drift, looking oddly crestfallen for someone who'd been playing pranks on him all day.

Izuku waited for his answer, but none came. Just the sound of winter birdsong and dripping water and cold wind rushing through the upper branches of the swaying pines.

Really? Nothing? Izuku smacked his fist on a nearby sapling, causing another dump of snow to fall on both of them, and Izuku just, honestly, couldn't fucking care about it. He was too mad. "Come on, man." He leaned against his sapling, exhausted and bruised. "This isn't fun anymore."

Todoroki just shifted his gaze up through the swaying pine branches, covered in melting snow and scattered sunlight, expression still totally unreadable on his stupid, ugly, handsome face.

"It's not safe, either!" Izuku was on a roll now, and at least stuck-in-the-snow Shoto was forced to listen to him. No more zipping past and ignoring his warnings. "You heard our orientation! We stick together, but no rough housing! You could break your ankle or something!"

Todoroki nodded absentmindedly.

"Hey, idiot. I'm talking! You're being reckless! Any amateur with the least bit of knowledge would know these things, Shoto! Like, have you never, ever been on- a... moun-"

Oh. That made a lot of sense.

Izuku's words disintegrated and fell away from his chapped lips. The forest was suddenly very quiet. Even Ashido's laughter was gone. Todoroki's gaze fell to the ground, avoiding him.

"No."

Silence and cold air between them. Shoto continued to sit in the snow, running a gloved hand through his sweaty hair and determinedly avoiding Izuku's eyes. Deku's stomach sank.

"This gear is all brand new. I've never used it before."

At some point, Tokoyami slid up behind him and placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder. He glanced over at Tokoyami, who shrugged an 'I could have told you that, dumbass' shrug.

Shoto lowered his gaze back to the hardpack snow, scratching at it with his glove. Izuku was starting to feel nauseous with guilt.

"But, your ice quirk-" he said, ineffectively.

"I've only ever used it to fight."

"I thought- I mean," Izuku tried his best to rationalize, "I think a lot of us thought with all your spiffy, expensive gear and your ice and everything that you'd be, like-"

"A pro," said Shoto. He scrunched the snow under his gloved fingers, forming a small snowball and crushed it. "Yeah, I know. That's why I said I wanted to do my own thing on the bus. I wanted to try to learn today, and you sounded like you'd be a good teacher. But, Tokoyami's been pretty busy, and I was embarrassed to ask for help. So I tried shadowing you and copying you."

Izuku stood there, slowly sliding back, inch by inch, on his skis while the world sort of rearranged itself around him. Huh. He let out a low whistle, impressed, at the very least, by Todoroki's raw honesty. "I thought you hated me."

"Of course not- !"

"-Like you were trying to ram into me and push me over." A grin crept onto his face. "But I guess this whole time you've been trying to grab onto me because you suck! " Izuku, despite his best efforts, felt the laughter start to bubble up inside him. Just wait until Iida and Ochaco heard this.

"Midoriya, I can still kill you."

Right. Yeah. Still amusing, though. The great and powerful icelord had never been skiing before, and thought Izuku, of all people, was some kind of expert. Deku couldn't help the big dumb cheeky grin spreading across his face. Shoto Todoroki needed his help.

"Dude, stand up. You look pathetic sitting there," he said, offering his own hand for once. Shoto took it, and Deku successfully hauled him to his feet. It felt good, being able to help. Being the one able to offer assistance when needed. That was what being a hero was all about.

Izuku turned towards Tokoyami and Ashido, patiently waiting to continue their run. They'd heard everything, and heck, they probably know about Shoto from the start. Izuku was the only oblivious idiot in the group. "Look," he said, handing Shoto's poles back to him, "Let's just take it easy down the rest of the hill. I won't go so fast, and if you panic, just say something and I'll let you grab onto me if you need to. No more masculinity bullshit. Deal?"

"Deal."


	2. Midday Son

"So, uh," Izuku's breath puffed out in front of him in pale, wispy clouds, "has your family never went on a winter vacation before?"

Izuku and Shoto matched each other's leisurely pace on this flat cross-country section of the trail. They were alone now, in the quiet backwoods. Ashido had strong-armed Tokoyami into going on ahead with her, assuring him that Izuku had everything under control. Deku wondered if she really was that confident in his skills, or just bored out of her mind being stuck in a group of amateurs with her level of natural talent.

"Nope."

Todoroki answered with a finality that told Izuku his family probably didn't go on any spring, summer, or fall vacations, either. Weird. Everyone knew Todoroki's family was absolutely loaded, what with his dad being the number two Hero and all. It's not like they couldn't afford it ten times over. Maybe his family was always just busy? Shoto mentioned at school how he spent a lot of his time training. Izuku nudged closer to him, trying to catch Shoto's expression out of the corner of his eye. He looked… distracted; even a little lost.

"Huh."

"What do you mean 'huh' ?" Todoroki huffed. He made to pick up his pace and cut in front of Izuku to take the lead as their trail narrowed into a single-file path.

"Well," Izuku shrugged. "Do you like it?"

"Skiing?" Shoto glanced over his shoulder.

"Having fun!" Deku laughed. "You know, being outdoors!" he gestured his pole around to the dappled light pouring through tall pillars of spruce and hemlock. A few birds took flight from their wintery foraging, into the treetops. "Enjoying the sun! Being, like, connected to the ice and snow!"

"I think I'm starting to..." Todoroki nodded pensively. He ducked his head under the enormous fallen log crossing their path, brushing away a delicate fall of dripping icicles. Each one snapped with its own musical pitch and landed like shards of broken glass in the soft snow. "And, well, I've always felt connected to it. It's just that I've only ever used it-"

"Yeah," Izuku sighed as he hunched his own awkward way under the log. "You said. For fighting."

He saw the drop in Shoto's shoulders on the other side. Saw him clench his poles just a little bit tighter as his eyes followed the line of broken ice shards he'd just created.

"You are talented, you know," Izuku said, pausing, waiting to see if Todoroki would take the lead again. "Probably better than me."

"At killing. "

Was he- not proud of himself? This was the guy who almost won the sports tournament handicapping himself with only a fraction of his power. He was far and away one of the best students in their school. Anyone should be gloating about that fact. He was a hero! Or, maybe Izuku had spent too much time around Kacchan...

That low tone in his voice told him Todoroki didn't really want to keep on the subject, and Izuku racked his brain for a good transition as he kept pace behind his classmate. An extended conversation with Shoto Todoroki was a rare blessing, and Izuku desperately didn't want to lose him to an awkward silence.

"Yeah, but, like, have you thought about working your ice quirk into it? You know, skiing. I mean, really using it for motion, instead of just trying to, uh," He grinned sheepishly, "kill me with obstacles?"

Shoto clicked his tongue. "That's illegal, and you know it."

Spoilsport.

Good thing Izuku didn't believe him for a second. Coming from Iida? maybe. But after the USJ, Deku knew that Todoroki was absolutely ready and willing to bend the rules - when applicable. "Come on, dude," he prodded. "We're gonna be pros in a couple years. We need all the practice we can get. This isn't just a holiday, you know. Aizawa wants us learning on different terrain."

Shoto stopped himself on the lip of a small hill, practicing the foot techniques Izuku and Tokoyami had been showing him. He let Izuku catch up to him so they were shoulder to shoulder once more.

"It's difficult," he said, looking down at his feet, sliding his skis back and forth in their tracks. "I thought if I warmed them up slightly, it would melt the water underneath and create a low-friction barrier I could use to go faster."

"Hmm," Izuku nodded along, following Shoto's eyeline to the snow. Good idea. That could definitely be a great way to increase speed, especially on a downhill slope. "And?"

"My heat only comes out of the left side of my body." Shoto paused, and Izku saw a few lazy curls of steam wafting up from the bottom of his ski, causing it to slide diagonally on the unstable slope. "When I use it, my left ski slides ahead. And," he tried several times to retract his leg, to futile effect. Then Izuku saw a spike of ice erupt from Shoto's other foot. "If I use my ice to try to balance it out, my right side freezes up and gets stuck. And then by that point," he looked up at Izuku, halfway to the ground. "I'm just doing the splits."

He looked like a sad baby deer splayed out on a frozen pond. Izuku bit his tongue to keep from laughing. Hard. Stay behind todoroki, he told himself while Shoto scrambled to his feet and kicked off again. Don't make that pained coughing noise. Just keep moving. Spit. Pretend you're cool. He's not turning around.

"Anyway, I can use my ice to stop in an emergency-" Shoto continued, unperturbed.

"Which is what you've been doing, thanks. "

"I did say I was sorry," Shoto growled, whipping his pole behind him to flick snow at Izuku's face. But there was no hostility in his voice. It sounded almost playful, to Izuku's delight. "Honestly, It's just easier to not use it right now until I can get a better handle on the motion."

As the trees around them cleared out a bit more, and mid-morning sun poured down on them, Todoroki pushed himself ahead of Izuku, as if to make up for lost time. Izuku had to work to keep up with the guy who'd never been skiing before. His pace was strenuous, like he was trying to win at a game Izuku didn't know the rules to.

Todoroki added, after a long moment of silence, "If we were fighting, I feel like I'd know more of what to do."

"Sounds like snowboarding might suit you better."

"Yeah," Shoto sighed, "but I don't think I smoke nearly enough weed to fit the lifestyle."

That was it. Izuku lost it. No amount of tongue-biting hid that snort. Todoroki spun around to find Izuku leaning heavily against a sapling, clinging to his poles for dear life as his gut ached with loud, obnxious laughter. Oh, gosh. Fuck, Shoto, you weirdo...

There it was. Arms-crossed like he was still pretending to be mad. That million-dollar, eye-in-the-middle-of-a-storm smile. The one few people ever got to see. The one that made him look... Really cool and handsome.

"You are funny sometimes, you know," Izuku choked, wiping his eyes and nose on his pink sleeve as he attempted to suppress the hiccups bubbling in his lungs.

Izuku Midoriya considered himself lucky.

* * *

Some while later, Izuku glanced up at the soaring sun overhead and asked about the time. Todoroki pulled back his expensive glove, revealing an even more expensive smartwatch and declared it to be almost lunch. And that they should probably try to pick up their pace.

The western backtrail was starting to slope downwards again. Still that shallow, narrow, cross-country path, but now the going was at least a little easier. The switch back to downward momentum allowed their calves and arms a rest from the laborious grind.

So, maybe Izuku ate it when he lost his shit laughing at Shoto back there. And maybe Shoto had thrown a few defensive snowballs at him for his utter disrespect. And perhaps, in retaliation, Izuku had charged him down and pushed Shoto into a drift. He may have leapt in after Shoto, completely burying him in the snow, causing foraging squirrels to scatter at the sound of screaming laughter and cracked 15-year-old voices in the silent woods.

"You're covered in snow, Mr. 420!" Izuku laughed, brushing at Shoto's hair with his mitt. The tiny crystals stayed stuck in his hair, sparkling in the sunlight.

"Your fault," Todoroki grunted as Izuku helped him up.

"Yeah, but..." Izuku stood back for a moment, taking Shoto Todoroki in, caught for a fraction of a second by the way his hair divided down the centre of his handsome face. "On your right side they tend to stick a bit more. Here, one second." And Midoriya thoughtlessly removed his mitten, combing the last flecks of snow out of Todoroki's hair. And Shoto stood there, wordlessly staring into Izuku with his blue and grey eyes.

Just staring.

"Thanks," he mumbled, after Izuku was long-done.

Izuku smiled and grabbed his poles. "Don't worry," he winked, "I won't tell the rest of the group you suck at skiing."

Todoroki rolled his eyes heavily. "That's not- I'm... pretty sure they already know."

So, that happened.

And now he and Shoto were hurrying along, picking up speed as the trail began to slope further downward. Izuku could feel the intense pounding of his heart in his chest as hot blood surged through his body. This was exciting! This was the kind of workout he loved; being outside in the fresh air, with a friend, and nothing to spoil his day! Todoroki kept pace by his side and Izuku watched his breath puffing out in hot clouds in front of him, as the two boys sank into a deep but comfortable silence. And then-

"Wait. Stop."

Todoroki skid to a halt. "-What is it?"

"Do you hear… dubstep? "

Thud.

"Alley-oop, nerds!" A blur of gold and purple, Jiro's snowboard clipped Izuku's sleeve, slapping down between the two of them. She carved herself to a hard stop. "What up, dork patrol?"

"Jiro-kun!" Iida's exasperated screech erupted from behind a cluster of pines. "That's too close to the other skiers! You're not supposed to be doing jumps on the back trails! Only in the terrain park!"

"Thanks, mom!" She waved to Iida, desperately power-jogging round the corner, caught between trying to keep up with Jiro and stay below the park's regulation safety speeds. Izuku forced his laughter down once more.

"Hey, uh, have either of you seen Bakugou?" Jiro pointed to her empty helmet mount. "He borrowed my GoPro and took off with it, and I'm trying to get it back."

"Haven't seen him all day," Izuku said truthfully. Todoroki shrugged.

Iida caught up to them at last, puffing his way along the winding trail. "Jiro- I told you not to get too far ahead! We need to stay with our partners when we go off-piste! You could get lost or injured!"

Jiro pretended she couldn't hear Iida, and after more fruitless lecturing, Iida decided it wasn't worth the energy to keep going. He looked exhausted, actually, when he finally turned his attention to Izuku. "Did you guys get into a fight back there?"

"Yes-" said Todoroki. "-Not really!" Izuku cut him off. Snitch!

"Yeah, sure, ok." Jiro rolled her eyes.

"What brings you guys all the way out here?" Todoroki pointed at Jiro's board. "And how exactly did you get here? The last 2 kilometers are flat trail. How did you follow us on a snowboard? "

"Oh, duh," she grinned. "I made Iida push me." She thumbed at Iida behind her, leaning on his calves and panting heavily. On closer inspection, Izuku could see the curls of smoke drifting from his engines.

"Told you guys! I'm on a Baku-hunt and I think he's deliberately avoiding me, but-"

"Well, if you're not fighting, that's good," Iida interrupted her. "The rest of the class was wondering what your group had gotten up to after we all split up. Midoriya-kun, it's very kind of you to have devoted your day to personally training Todoroki-"

"OKAY, DID EVERYONE KNOW HE SUCKS SHIT EXCEPT ME?" Izuku raised his poles in mock-threat over at Shoto.

"Uh, yeah." Jiro shrugged, not even trying to hide her smug grin. "We pretty much figured it out after Asui mentioned that all his gear was brand-new. A real pro's stuff would be scratched and worn."

Iida lay a patronizing hand on Izuku's shoulder. "We thought you were just being nice."

"Also, it was really funny watching you."

Filthy rotten fake fudging friends. Nobody, not Tokoyami or Ashido or Iida or anyone else had the guts to actually tell Izuku that the icy menace who'd nearly killed him on three separate occasions was actually just trying to learn how to ski. Jerks. Izuku made a mental note to ransom that GoPro back to Jiro for a bag of sour candy if he ever found it.

"Oh, speaking of," Jiro suddenly cut his criminal machinations short. "That's the real reason we're here. You guys keep an eye out for Asui, ok? She could be anywhere. In these temperatures, her cold blood makes her keep falling asleep in the snow. We've lost her twice now on the trails."

Todoroki nodded, glancing about. "We'll stay sharp."

"Definitely."

"Now," Jiro grinned, "Onwards, husky! Mush! Mush!"

Iida wiped the sweat from his brow. "It's downhill, " he groaned, "Jiro, I'm not pushing you anymore."

"You're the one who said we had to check EVERY run for Asui!" she laughed, bunny-hopping her board into action and slipping into an easy glide down the shallow slope. "Anyway, smell ya later, boyfriends!"

"Jiro-kun! Get back here!" Iida screamed, taking off after her.

* * *

Izuku fired off a quick text to Tokoyami and Ashido when they arrived back at the village. Near midday, the noise and throng of people had only grown larger and larger at the bottom of the mountain. Izuku immediately missed the quiet of the western backtrail, where he could spend his time just concentrating on his run. Here, the village was overflowing with skiers and snowboarders all running their eyes over him, clearly disdainful. He felt the knot of anxiety tightening in his gut. Tokoyami told them to wait where they were and that he'd come get them. Izuku glanced over at Shoto, who seemed to share his distaste for overcrowding.

Izuku was certainly ready for a break. His legs were starting to shake, and his mitts were soaked through with snow and sweat. Todoroki looked ok, still clean-cut in his spiffy temperature-regulating gear. But- he also had this bad habit of trying to hide any weakness. Hard to tell. Izuku tried to watch him for signs of exhaustion as other skiers milled about.

There were a lot of people down here in the village.

More and more, skiers began gather up around them, catching Izuku's eye. He recognized a few students from Class 1B hanging around, glaring at him, sizing him up. A young girl with green hair made an obvious cough in his direction. Was this- what did they want from him?

"You know, despite what Iida said," Todoroki leaned in, whispering quietly in his ear, "it still feels like everyone is staring at me because they expect me to be some kind of skiing expert."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, gripping his phone in his fist as he searched the crowd for Tokoyami's feathers. "I feel like they're staring at me in this embarrassing pink jacket."

"Hey idiots!" Ashido shouted from behind the crowd. "They're staring at you because you two are blocking the lineup to the chair lift! "

"GET MOVING!" Some older students from UA shouted from behind them.

Oh, darn fuck.


	3. Afternoon Son

"...I think your jacket looks ok..."

Izuku barely caught the tail end of Todoroki's quiet mumbling in his panic to get out of that circle of onlookers. Heart pounding and face flush with embarrassment, he yanked Todoroki's arm so hard, the boy nearly tripped over his own skis as Izuku forcibly manhandled their way out of the crowd.

The clog of students began to disperse. Slowly. Still judging him. He could feel it. Izuku hurried to kick his skis off, scrambling over to the outdoor rack by the rental lodge, dragging a confused Todoroki by the back of his collar.

Tokoyami's eyes nearly rolled out of their sockets. Trying to salvage some sort of dignity, he leaned down and unclipped his skis, and then graciously helped Ashido out of hers. His very slow and deliberate clip-clip reminding Izuku that at least someone there knew what they were doing.

Watching him, Izuku briefly wondered how the other group leaders were fairing on their trip. Surely they weren't... the worst group to hit the slopes… right?

"Good thing we're getting lunch, you know," Ashido grinned at Tokoyami, ruffling his feathers while he kneeled over her boot. "I am feeling a bit peckish- eh? Eh? How about that one?"

Tokoyami looked like he wanted to scream.

" Still not funny," he grumbled, banging the snow off of her skis with excessive force. He reached up and placed her skis on the rack while Mina pouted, leaning off the handrail of the lodge's freshly shoveled stairs.

"Aw, boo, " she whined. "You're cute when you nibble, though!"

"Madness!" Tokoyami spat back, flinging a dramatic finger in her direction. "You shouldn't want to observe the fleshtaking of my craw!" and he slammed the rack's stopper-bar shut.

" What- ?"

Izuku laughed.

Todoroki sighed. "He said he doesn't like it when you watch him eat." He stood at the top of the veranda now, boots stomped clean, holding the cafeteria door for them to enter.

A 30 degree wall of hot air smacked Izuku in the face as they passed through the thick glass doors, cheeks and fingers tingling with sudden warmth. The smell of wood smoke and hot frying foods gently wafted through the vaulted ceiling of the lodge, deliciously enticing. His stomach growled, louder than the din of happily chatting crowds, demanding immediate attention. He hadn't realised how hungry he was until he saw the piles of food all around them. Izuku unzipped his dripping coat, and started stuffing his wet mits in his pockets until Mina elbowed him, pointing out the heated drying rack on the side wall.

The village cafeteria was a huge building, made in that fake Swiss chalet style, with three warm brick fireplaces and a bunch of rough-plank tables and benches dotting the hall. The wood-panelled walls were decorated with antique ski gear and old maps of the area when they weren't interrupted by enormous windows framing a gorgeous view of the mountainside. And in one corner of the room, a stuffed rearing grizzly that the park rangers affectionately named "Rambo" stood, watching all the passersby, and collecting charity donations in a can tied to his front paw.

Tokoyami found them a clean table, and Izuku, Todoroki and Ashido went to go line up and order. Izuku swore he spotted Aizawa over in the corner, sleeping in a plush armchair by one of the roaring fires. But it may have just been someone else who looked like him— and who also carried an orange sleeping bag around in public. A few other heads stood out to him as well; Shoji and Mineta near the window, Iida relaxing by himself, and Yaoyorozu, Jiro and Ojiro chatting on the bench right near his elbow. But- no…

"Hey, um," Izuku leaned over the wooden rail separating their order cue from the tables. "Have you guys seen Uraraka at all?"

Jiro squinted at him. "Have you seen my camera? "

"No," Yaoyorozu lowered her vanilla latte from her lips. "Why? She's not missing too, is she?"

"Oh no, no!" Izuku felt that flush rising in his cheeks again, desperately blaming it on the heat of the lunch room. "I mean, she just, she maybe said we'd kinda meet up for lunch… sortof. "

Did she? She said that, right? ' You'll have to tell me all about it at lunch.' That's what she said. Right? That meant they were gonna eat together. Right? Yes?

Yaomomo shrugged. "Did you text her?"

Izuku's blush quickly sank into a pale sickness knotting his stomach. ".. ...No. " He didn't. Because that's what smart people who aren't dumb idiots would do. Fuckleberry finn.

"Then how's she supposed to know you're here-?" Jiro added, deftly stealing one of Ojiro's fries.

"I dunno," Ojiro interrupted. "Don't girls have psychic powers? They always seem to know what I'm gonna say before I can say it."

"Yes!" Deku threw his arms up. "Thank you! Someone here understands women!"

"They're mean and scary," Ojiro nodded. "They can smell fear!"

"Definitely scary."

"Ugh..." Yaoyorozu took a deep drink of her coffee.

Izuku felt a small tap on his shoulder. "I hate to interrupt your casual misogyny, but we're ready to order." Ashido was already up at the front of the line, and Todoroki had found his way back to where Izuku hung over the railing, holding up yet another queue.

"Just... order me something-"

"What do you want?"

"Same thing. Whatever you get is probably fine. Don't pay." He gently swatted Shoto's arm until it retracted of its own accord, and Todoroki shuffled his way back up the line. Izuku ducked and swung under the wooden rail, inviting himself to sit between Ojiro and Jiro.

Jiro's eye's met Momo's. "I told you," she mouthed to her girlfriend.

Several silent eyebrows were exchanged.

"Shh," Ojiro leaned in and whispered in Izuku's ear, " they're communicating in lesbian !"

"We are not!" Momo snapped. "Besides- I think it's cute." she smirked, winking at Izuku.

"Who-? What? Was it what we said about girls being scary?" He could feel both their eyes working him up and down, analyzing his every anxious move and suddenly Izuku just didn't know what to do with his hands anymore. "If- if that was it, I'm sorry!"

"No, honey, that's not it," Yaoyorozu smiled, still sipping her latte.

"And anyway, you've got a lot of gall to say women are scary when men are camera thieves- " Jiro sniped, inserting herself back into the conversation.

"You're really not gonna let this one go, are you?" Ojiro smacked her hand away from another attempted fry-swipe. "He's probably just recording something for a music video or whatever."

Izuku sighed, trying to hide his disappointment. "I'm just surprised she's not here, is all," he said, pulling out his phone and reflexively thumbing the screen showing no new notifications. Text her, Deku. Text her. Just ask her to meet you. "I mean, weren't we all supposed to stay in our groups?"

"Oh gee, I dunno." Yaomomo rolled her eyes. "Have you asked Tokoyami over there, all by himself? He looks like he's about to come for your future kids."

Izuku turned around, slowly, vertebrae by creaking vertebrae, confirming the chilling worst; a fuming Fumikage across the room, tapping his fingers on the table he'd reserved and glaring death over at the four of them.

"We- forgot-" he gulped. Chills of dread ran up Izuku's spine as Todoroki shoved himself between him and Jiro, quietly mentioning something about how he'd ordered their lunches. Thankfully, Mina went over and began dragging an uncooperative Tokoyami by the arm to join them.

"Oh my god, you guys!" she chirped, shoving Tokoyami in beside Momo. "Check out this snap from Hagakure-" She produced her phone, waving it around the table. "Bakugou took off his shirt!"

Izuku caught a glimpse of a short video clip of Bakugou, naked from the waist up, flashing a peace sign at whoever was filming and dipping down into the half-pipe. "He must be freezing. Idiot."

Ojiro peered at her screen. "Did Kaminari and Kirishima follow suit?"

"Of course," Ashido laughed, flicking through her messages, pulling up various snaps and passing her phone around.

This was bad. Clearly. Evidently. Izuku's thumbs ran over his phone, habitually locking and unlocking his screen, no new messages to be found. Was Ochako still over at the terrain park? Was she watching a shirtless, abtacular Bakugou pulling sweet tricks? Should he text her and remind her that they were gonna meet, or would that sound needy and desperate? Should he mention lunch? Call or text? Calls are too personal. Definitely text. But then he'd have to consider how many and what kind of emojis to use to come across as carefree and easygoing and fun and maybe throw in a random flag one to show that he was funny and cool and unpredictable and-

Thankfully, Midorya's train of thought was interrupted by the arrival of their lunch. Anxiety being what it was, he'd completely forgotten what an incredible appetite he'd worked up— and was immediately disappointed by the overflowing pile of bean sprouts and kale placed before him.

"I got us macro bowls," Todoroki announced, rather pleased with himself.

"Right…" Izuku jammed his fork unenthusiastically into a sauceless cube of grilled chicken, staring longingly at the disgusting platter of ketchup-soaked curly fries and thick burger Tokoyami was currently ploughing into while Mina chugged her strawberry milkshake.

"-Gluten free, and should give us enough grams of protein for the rest of the day. Kale's also an excellent source of iron, my family knows a good recipe for-"

"Hey-y, Todoroki?" Izuku chirped, stabbing his fork back into his bowl. "Shoto? Dude, we are fucking fifteen years old." Izuku grabbed the other boy's face, cupping Shoto's cheeks for dramatic emphasis. "Do you understand the kind of metabolism that comes with being nothing but horny and angry all the fucking time?" Shoto quirked an eyebrow between his smushed features, and Izuku continued unperturbed. "I could eat literally anything and turn it into muscle if I work out. I swear to god, you name it. I could eat a bowl of laundry pods soaked in Pepsi and butter and sprinkled with bacon bits and still not get fat. This food is… It's unnecessary! That's how our bodies work right now!"

"Well, no," Todoroki's eyes were looking everywhere, anywhere except Izuku, "you'd be dead." But he didn't jerk his head away.

"Beside the point." Izuku let go of Todoroki's face. He grabbed the fork and chomped his bitter kale. "Testosterone's one hell of a drug. Has anyone heard from Uraraka?"

"For fuck's sake, just text her! "

"-Please don't watch me eat."

"But you're cute, though!"

"Laundry pods are poison."

* * *

Bowl half-empty, and ravenous teenage hunger mostly sated, Izuku pulled out his phone for the twentieth time while everyone else chatted around the table. There she was. Already up top in his frequent contacts. No new messages. Why did he feel so nervous? This wasn't, like, a real date or anything. He just needed to work up a little courage and- and just-

 **You - sent 1:11  
** **[Hey, where are you?]**

 **Ochakoooo - received 1:13  
** **[Doing one last run before lunch! Wanna eat together?]**

 **You - sent 1:13  
** **[I'd love to!]  
** **[But our group just ate ^^;;]  
** **[so... I guess I could watch you]**

 **Ochakoooo - received 1:14  
** **[haha! creeper! Rofl]**

Oh, no.

 **Ochakoooo - received 1:15  
** **[Yeah, I can meet you there in a bit]  
** **[I'm just doing one more run with Aoyama's group]  
** **[should be done in 10 maybe 15]**

 **Ochakoooo - received 1:16  
** **[sound ok?]**

 **You - sent 1:16  
** **[Yeha of course ^_^b]**

 **Ochakoooo - received 1:22  
** **[Yeehaw lol]**

 **You - sent 1:22  
** **[lol]**

Smooth.

* * *

By mid-afternoon, Ashido had skipped off to go join Hagakure at the terrain park, leaving the three boys by themselves with an extra bill for curly fries and strawberry milkshake. Tokoyami grudgingly covered it, muttering something about group leader responsibility and a sworn blood-debt soon to be repaid.

Izuku paced up and down the icy veranda outside the cafeteria, boots crunching on chunks of rock salt sprinkled all over, coming up with worse and worse excuses to stall for time. Several more of his classmates passed in and out of the cafeteria. But still, no Ochako.

 **You - sent 1:44  
** **[heyy, how's the run going?]**

 **Ochakoooo - received 1:48  
** **[sorry, looks like I'm stuck! This is taking way too long… 3]**

Heart?

Heart!? WHAT DID HEART MEAN!? Did she love it when things take too long? Was she happy that they're not meeting up? She deeply loves him, despite their ever-growing distance? What? Why were girls like this ?

 **You - sent 1:48  
** **[haha no worries]  
** **[take your time]**

Fuck.

Fuckfuckfuntimes.

Izuku felt another tap on his shoulder as his eyes kept desperately scanning the lower ski area for Ochako's lavender ski jacket and pink hat. At this point he was getting kinda used to Shoto's communication MO.

"She's not coming, is she?" Shoto stood beside him, leaning against the rail with his skis in hand. He humoured Izuku, squinting out onto the bright snowscape, watching schoolmates and strangers pour down the mountain, but seeing no particularly familiar faces. No Ochako.

"Midoriya…"

Izuku finally tore his eyes away from his own creepy mountainstalking.

"...No." Izuku tucked his chin against his folded elbows on the rail. Everything for naught. This just wasn't fair.

Shoto shifted his skis under his arm. "Tokoyami and I are heading to the peak of the mountain."

"Huh," Izuku looked him up and down before reflexively turning back to the skiers trickling down the slopes. "I guess you have improved a lot in one-"

"He says the powder snow up top is easier to learn on," Todoroki interrupted him. He coughed slightly. "And that there's far less people."

"You mean less Mina."

"Don't tell him that."

"That's- fair."

"We were wondering if you wanted to come along."

"I do, but…" Izuku sighed heavily. No Ochako. No new messages. He scanned the bottom of the hill one last desperate time. Nothing. She wasn't coming. She really wasn't coming.

Maybe the sun was shifting in the sky, but the air felt just a little bit colder around him.

"You know," Shoto said, breaking Izuku's melancholy silence, "She probably wouldn't want you to waste your day waiting for something that wasn't going to happen."

"True."

A flicker of a smile formed on Todoroki's lips. "Maybe you should take your own advice and go 'connect with the ice and snow'."

Izuku snorted in spite of himself. He was right. Ochako wasn't trying to hurt him, she was probably just off doing her own thing and having fun. No sense crying about it and wasting a perfectly good day. No need to worry so much. They'd see each other later, maybe even after dark during night-ski. He still had time to sweep a certain someone off their feet.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'd like that."


	4. Truth or Dare

"So… this thing isn't going to stop or break, is it?" Todoroki had his nose pressed against the glass of the Heaven's Gate gondola, gazing down at the white spikes of frozen pines below. Their car rose steadily, higher and higher, slowly crawling its way across the steep gorge. The wind was picking up now, and the cables holding them aloft emitted a strange vibrating whine that penetrated their little car as it rocked gently from side to side.

"We're pretty high up."

He sounded more curious than afraid, though, little circles of white breath clouding the glass and then disappearing just as quickly. Izuku wondered if Todoroki nurtured the same habit he did; of running various situations and catastrophes through his mind, forming random rescue plans to stave off anxiety and boredom. He watched Todoroki's gaze gradually hover over each of the four other boys in the car: Tokoyami, Sero, Kirishima, and finally, himself.

Izuku estimated about a hundred foot drop into the deepest gullies they passed over — maybe thirty on average, not including trees. Worst came to worst, he could probably survive a 60-foot fall if he used his quirk. Maybe. So that meant better than average odds for him. But the others… Izuku began quietly assessing the weights and falling trajectories of his friends in the event of an emergency.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, it stops all the time," Tokoyami replied, casually enjoying the tension in Todoroki's white-knuckled grip on his seat. "But break? No. If it stops it's likely because someone wasn't able to get off at the top. In that case, you just wait patiently."

Izuku felt Todoroki's elbow relax a little against his side.

"However, if you swing the car too violently, you could derail the cables and plummet down to a violent, icy death…" He grinned wide, hawk-eyes narrowing, each word a quiet and menacing hiss. "Though there haven't been any fatal chairlift accidents this year. Yet. "

"Oh come on!" A bark of laughter erupted from Kirishima sitting across from them, destroying Tokoyami's sinister mood. "-He's just mad because I pissed my name in the snow bigger than him!" He and Sero slapped their high-fives and Tokoyami sulked just a little lower in his seat.

"Who, Tokoyami?" Izuku tore himself away from his muttering calculations.

"No, Bakugou!" Sero laughed. "You should have seen their contest today, we were playing-"

"Oh! Hey! Midoriya!" Kirishima shouted, shoving Sero aside. " Truth or Dare!? "

Uh oh.

Oh no.

These games never ended well for him, Izuku knew that well enough. He was always too gullible and eager to please and took things way too far. But then again, thinking back to the few times he'd played, he'd always played with Kacchan, and that usually ended up with him getting hit. Or burned.

In more ways than one.

The tension in their tiny metal cabin thickened as all eyes focused on him and Izuku tugged at his collar, internally convinced the air inside was getting warmer by the second. Todoroki stopped staring out the window, blue-grey eyes now burning into him, and Tokoyami's mischievous grin began creeping back onto his face.

This was how it was gonna be, huh? Kirishima wiggled his brows. Oh well , Izuku sighed. All things considered, maybe it was for the best now that he was out in the open and pretty much all of UA knew he was bisexual.

"Uh…" Izuku looked around, surrounded by the crushing entrapment of adolescent peer pressure. "D-dare, I guess."

A gloved finger pointed square at his chest. "Take off your ugly jacket! And the shirt!"

"No!" He shrank back. "It's chilly out!"

"Oh, come on." Kirishima laughed, elbowing Sero for support. "Be a man!"

"I'm enough of a man, thank you." Izuku folded his arms petulantly. "I don't need to be a man with pneumonia."

Sero and Kirishima began chanting " Do it! Do it!" in perfect unison.

"Besides," Izuku continued, "you two put yours back on. We saw Ashido's phone at lunch! I-" He looked desperately over at Todoroki for an opinion, some backup, anything.

Todoroki shrugged. "You want to play the game?"

Sellout.

"Fine," Izuku huffed. "I'll- I'll unzip the front. Shoto, you're on thermostat duty if we're all suddenly getting nakeder up in here."

Todoroki blinked. "I most certainly am not, " he mumbled while Izuku unzipped his pink coat.

"Attaboy!" Kirishima reached across the car, offering a solid high-five. "That's the stuff! Hey- what's that in your pocket?"

"What is?" Izuku jammed his mitted hands down his pockets, empty except for his phone and lift ticket, which he already knew.

"No, the inside one!" Sero poked at the breast of Izuku's jacket, both of them definitely feeling something strangely firm there. And it wasn't a breast.

"There's an INSIDE POCKET?"

"Quiet down," Todoroki yawned, his attention slowly drifting back outside the car. "I've never been skiing before, and I knew that..."

"Oh, shut up, icehole." Izuku nudged the smug asshole with his elbow. "Go connect to the snow." He began thoroughly patting his chest up and down, feeling the outline of a very solid object that couldn't possibly have been there before. "Huh. Weird." His hand brushed across a pull tab hidden inside the lining. "I just thought it was lumpy because it's really old. It's actually kinda been bugging me all day. It's-"

He pawed at the tab with his mittens for an infuriating amount of time until Tokoyami took pity on him and commandeered the task, opening Izuku's pocket in one swift motion.

"Cookies!" Izuku shouted, plucking the sandwich baggy stuffed with chocolate biscuits out of the polyester lining and hoisting it aloft. "And a note!"

Jackpot!

Sero cackled with glee. "Did your mom make those?"

"Duh!" Kirishima kicked him. "Midoriya's mom's sweet like that! What's more amazing is that you've been carrying those around all day without noticing."

Of course she would. Of course his mother would want to surprise him on his special trip, reminding him of her love and dedication. Izuku marveled at the bag of treats in hand. When did she have time to bake these? He'd had to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning just to make it in time for the bus. She must have done it after he went to bed the night before. Izuku smiled to himself, any embarrassment well worth the love put into the gesture.

"You guys want one?" He cracked open the bag, releasing the pleasant scent of chocolate and icing sugar into the tiny cabin. Kirishima and Sero immediately shoved their hands in, fighting for the largest one.

"Todoroki?" Izuku shook the bag in his direction.

Todoroki's nose was back on the windowsill, clearly using his quirk to keep the frost away from his view. "No thanks." He said, almost inaudibly quiet. Strange. "I'm not really sup-" his voice trailed into nothing. "My-" he tried again, apparently struggling for the right words. "No thanks."

"You sure?"

Torodoki clearly seemed a little offput by the gesture, even as Kirishima and Sero loudly covered themselves in crumbs. Was it the thermostat comment? No. He was pretty adamant at lunch about how healthy those gross macro bowls were. And, to be honest, Izuku couldn't recall Todoroki ever eating any sort of junk food whatsoever.

"I mean," Izuku continued, "my mom made them special!"

Was he some kind of obsessive health nut?

"Don't push the subject, Midoriya."

Defeated at last, Izuku shrank back, lowering the baggy to his lap. Todoroki kept his eyes on the trees below. Disappointing. Guy wouldn't even eat a cookie. He did have… very nice lats, though. Maybe he was onto something? Still, rude.

"Fine." Izuku said, a little more harshly than he'd intended. He didn't know why he felt so dejected. It was just a cookie, wasn't it? Was Todoroki really that conscious about his figure? "Tokoyami?"

Tokoyami didn't hesitate. "I want Mina's as well," he said, stuffing his hand in the bag.

A brief moment of silence settled over the gondola as four boys muched in peace, and Todoroki continued his sulk in the corner. The cookies were, by Izuku's own unbiased admission, fantastic.

"You should really stand up to her at some point, you know," he said between licking the icing sugar off of his fingers. "She walks all over you because she knows she can get away with it."

"She is…" Tokoyami sucked in a deep breath, glaring around at the other boys with tense suspicion.

"Yeah?"

His shoulders suddenly drooped and his gaze fell to the ground. "...Very cute."

"Oof." Kirishima reached out and slapped him on the knee. "You poor bastard."

Sero nodded. "No recovery from that one. Another valliant man fallen. Hey, Midoriya, these cookies are kinda warm like your body."

"There a problem with that?"

"No, just…" he made a vague gesture with his hands. "I'm picturing this cookie next to your sweat."

Tokoyami sighed, holding his last chocolate fragment between his fingers. "I don't know what to do about Mina…"

"Just eat your sweatcookie, Sero." Izuku shifted back to Shoto, still staring glassy-eyed out the gondola window. "What are you even looking at?"

Todoroki frowned. "We're supposed to be keeping an eye out for Asui, remember?"

"I can't handle it, ok!?" Tokoyami's shout dominated the car, catching the other boys off-guard. "Whatever she demands, I cave! She's always yelling at me or hanging off of me. She- She pulls at my feathers! I want to tell her no. And like, I'd rather spend my time with someone like Asui, like you said, to be honest… but." Tokoyami sighed, exasperated, and exhausted. "There's just never a moment to say anything."

"If that's how you feel, then you should just tell her that." Izuku patted his friend on the shoulder, offering him another cookie.

"You're one to give advice about relationships, Midoriya…" He took one anyway, nibbling it with his beak. "Can't even tell when someone likes you."

"WAIT WHO LIKES ME!?"

The other boys reeled back as the spittle from Deku's mouth hit Tokoyami in the face. The words escaped his mouth before Izuku had any reasonable moment to think about them or shut himself up. Ochaco? Was it Ochaco? Should he have waited for Ochaco? Did he stand her up at lunch? Was she expecting him? WAS IT OCHACO AND DID HE MISS HIS CHANCE TO SWEEP HER OFF HER FEET?

Tokoyami's eyes flit back and forth between him and Todoroki. "I've, uh…" he paused, suddenly very unsure of himself. "I've been sworn to secrecy," he choked, left eye twitching as menacing rimes of frost crept along the gondola floor, slowly inching their way up his ski boots.

"So, what does the note say?" he tried to cough an awkward laugh. "I mean, truth! Midoriya, what does it say?"

"No, it's my turn." Izuku shook his head. "Shoto."

"Truth."

Well.

He wasn't expecting that one. Shit. He just wanted to dare the sworn health nut to eat a cookie. Crap. Crapdamn. Izuku sat, blinking as the seconds ticked by, trying to think of a solid backup plan.

"So… uh." He fished around for ideas. Come on. Stab in the dark. Stab in the dark. "Um... Is there someone you like?"

"Yes." 

The cabin fell silent. 

Kirishima looked at Sero.

Sero looked at Tokoyami.

Tokoyami looked at Izuku. 

Todoroki looked out the window. 

"Who are you texting?" Tokoyami watched Kirishima quietly, casually, slide his phone out like it was nobody's business.

"Yaomomo," he grinned. "She owes me about a thousand yen. For, uh, no reason."

Incredible. Just like that, no hesitation. Todoroki was either brave or foolhardy or both. "Who is it?" Izuku gasped. "Who do you like?"

Todoroki shook his head, steely poker-face set in solid. "Nope. My turn. Tokoyami. Truth or dare."

"Truth, then."

Shoto thought quietly for a moment. "What's something that embarasses you?"

"Being stuck with you idiots." Tokoyami didn't waste a moment of breath.

"Oh, diss." "Burn." Sero and Kirishima laughed as their gondola shook gently in the wind, still cranking slowly up the mountainside.

"Well now you're not gebbing emy mo cookiefv!" Izuku choked, two in his mouth, cradling the dwindling sandwich baggy in his palms.

"Alright, fine then," he shrugged. "Sometimes when my chest hairs grow in, they grow in as feathers. And hate it, and I try to rip them out, but then they bleed and hurt a lot and that's why I sometimes have weird blood stains on my shirt."

That was...

"Oh, nast," Kirishima gagged.

Izuku's face blanched. "This just got weird."

"You asked," Tokoyami pointed out in smug mock-offence. "Midoriya, truth or dare. Just pick truth, I want to know what the note says."

"Fine, fine." Izuku wiped his crumbly fingers on the front of his jacket and flipped open the little post-it note his mother had folded and tucked inside. "It just says… Hi son, hope you're having a great day. Rest when you need to. Here's a snack, love mom. "

Fuck anyone else's opinions or laughter. Izuku had the best mom hands down and he was ready to fight anyone to prove it. Even smug jerks with mystery crushes who didn't want cookies.

"Todoroki. Truth or dare."

"Dare."

FUCK , now he wanted to ask this slippery weasel who he liked. That Sneaky Devil. Fine. Fine. Backup plan. He wasn't going to let him just get away like that.

"Eat a cookie."

"No."

"Come on."

"No."

"That's your dare."

"I said no. I don't want it." He peeled his gaze away from the window, over to Izuku, staring him up and down like he, his coat and the bag of cookies were all cursed.

Izuku sniffed, unable to hide his annoyance. "What's the big deal? Like, calories and shit?"

"Midoriya-" Shoto's voice was deep and tense, the one he used when warning his opponents not to underestimate him.

"No really. What's wrong?" he should stop. He should really stop. And yet, something made Izuku Midoriya push further. Maybe it was the insult to his mother, maybe it was Shoto's smug attitude. Maybe something else. But he wasn't going to let this one go. "My mom worked so hard for these and you're looking at them like they're poison!"

Todoroki's flat expression began to contort into ugly annoyance, eyes narrowing under furrowed brows full of hate and… how was he still so handsome when he was angry?

Kirishima tried to jam his leg between the two boys stuffed into their seats. "Midoriya. Chill out, dude, it's ok. He doesn't have to-"

"No!" Izuku spat in Todoroki's face. "He does! That's the game!"

He could feel the temperature in the car rapidly dropping as Shoto's jaw clenched, and his eyes flit between Izuku and the bag.

"I'm not doing it."

"Cut it out, guys."

"It's like one cookie."

"I SAID LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!"

* * *

The Heaven's Gate gondola arrived at the top of the platform with a jagged, halting screech. Sagging with the weight of six-foot icicles hanging from its belly, the cable car hit the landing platform with a terrible thump, clanging and shattering ice against the metal guide rails and screeching its way to an awkward jolting stop.

Traction cables whined under the strain of the explosive cold crunching through the machinery as attendants killed the engines and rushed to chip through the three-inch layer of ice coating the gondola with a crowbar. After wrenching the door open, and dumping out the waist-deep chunks of solid ice filling the cabin, five teenage boys hobbled out of the car, shivering and quietly subdued.


	5. Setting Son

"Look, hey, I'm sorry. "

That was what Izuku managed to assemble into a coherent apology.

According to Kirishima's and Sero's awkward grimaces, shot over their shoulders as they snapped their boots into their snowboards, It wasn't much. And honestly, they were probably right.

Fudge.

He felt like he'd used up all his best words after they'd all gotten themselves sorted out on the landing platform, sincerely and profusely insisting to the lift staff that what happened was a freak accident that had never, ever happened before while grabbing snowboards and ski poles out of the frozen gondola.

Todoroki pretended not to hear him. He strategically kept his back to Izuku, volunteering to use his quirk to melt the ice encasing their cabin until the staff deemed it safe enough to switch the lift's power back on. Izuku stood off to the side of the landing platform, watching the steady stream of meltwater trickle down the side of the mountain, catching other bits of snow and ice in its miniature torrent down the steep incline until it all dispersed and sank into a hidden pocket in the snow. All that ice, pouring off the metal gondola's walls, produced in a fraction of a second. The whole thing struck Izuku as a symbol of Todoroki's raw power; and well, emotional fragility.

When the gondola was more or less defrosted, one attendant signaled her OK to the other in the booth, and with a mighty lurch, the Heaven's Gate lift continued to crank its way back down along the south face of mount Agamar.

That done, Kirishima and Sero waved their awkward goodbyes, hobbling towards the edge of the Peak to Creek trail and without a look back, dipped over on their way back down to the village. Izuku watched as they carved their way down, laughing and hollering and certainly free from the awkward situation he and Shoto had created. He half expected Todoroki to cancel his plans and follow them, what with how uncomfortable the air had gotten at the top of the lift...

But, oddly enough, he didn't. Instead Todoroki wandered about ten feet away from the landing platform to a cluster of the last few trees struggling to grow at this altitude and sat down. He carefully secured his skis together and with a quick heft, slung them onto his back; still frustratingly silent as he checked his watch, blew his nose, and prepared for the half-hour hike ahead of them up to the peak.

The silence was what got to him, honestly. It felt too… unfinished. Izuku was used to handling a barrage of insults from Kacchan when he'd overstepped his bounds, or a simple fist in his face to clear the air. He didn't mind it, actually. All it took was a short scuffle, and Bakugou usually cooled off not long after. Sure, he held grudges, but not about every minor thing. He was easy to rise, and easy to forget most unimportant slights. This? This was new to him. At least with Kacchan, Izuku always knew where he stood.

The emptiness of the mountain exacerbated this painfully awkward silence, as the three boys took off along the narrow path hugging the ridge of the mountain, devoid of all but the few most dedicated powder hounds. Most of his classmates, Izuku guessed, weren't in it today for an extra hike; happy to just ride the lifts that covered most runs. Todoroki lead the way up the empty trail from its starting marker, steadily melting footholds into the snow under his boots while Tokoyami followed him and Izuku trailed behind them both.

Gondola incident aside, those classmates were missing out. Izuku got back into the swing of working his body again, breathing in the fresh cold air and listening to the muffled crunch of snow under his boots. The path ahead was steep and clear, an ascent that curved up and around the powder bowl of the southern face, ending at the peak some two thousand meters above sea level.

Being so high up, they were now well past the treeline and out in open sunlight. Sparkling rays now reflected off the mountainside, stinging his eyes and leaving Izuku wishing his mom had packed him a pair of sunglasses in his overnight bag. His gaze drew up ahead of him. The other boys didn't seem so bothered.

"Hey, uh, just wanted to say again, I'm sorry!" Izuku broke the crushing silence, barely a hundred feet up the hill, rubbing his tired eyes against the glare. "I- really am!"

Todoroki stopped. He turned around just momentarily, expression impossible to read behind the scarf wrapped round his mouth and hood zipped up to his nose. -But he did turn around. That was something, right?

Then, just as soon as he glanced back at Izuku, Todoroki the Silent Wonder was back on his grind, heading up the trail with that same stoic determination Izuku both hated and respected in equal parts.

"I'm sorry..." he muttered under his breath.

The weather up here was strangely hot, what with the lack of wind and blazing sunshine and complete absence of snowy pines that had stopped about 300 feet below them. And yet, Izuku found it difficult to focus on the gorgeous view surrounding them. Of the nearby Twin Bells mountains and the grayest hint of Hosu city off in the distant horizon. Every time he tried to enjoy the scenery, Todoroki would just insert himself back in Izuku's line of vision, a constant reminder that, oh yeah, he was still there and he wasn't over what happened. How could he be so calm if he was so mad? Why stay with the group if he didn't want to be there? Was he still going to try to crash into Izuku when they got started on their run, or would he leave him alone like he was now?

He watched Todoroki's tall form power through the snowy hill, clearly determined to make good time on their run, long legs kicking snow carelessly behind him as they passed marker after marker towards the top.

900 meters. 700 meters.

This was, admittedly, getting hard to bear. The windless quiet, the occasional briefest glance. At this point Izuku just wished that if Todoroki were mad at him, that he'd just come out and say it. Get it all over with. Throw the first punch. Call him a shithead. God, what WAS he going to do? What about after, down in the village? What about at dinner? What if he was just mad at him forever now? It was this tense, lingering silence that filled Izuku's brain with spiraling anxiety and his gut with sinking dread.

"Hey," he choked out, stumbling up the hill to close a bit of distance, "Todoroki! I'm sorry for trying to make you eat that cookie. If you're allergic to cookies, that's ok! Hey! I'm sorry!"

Tokoyami sighed, stopped, and threw his bag and skis to the ground. He reached an arm out to his side as Izuku made to pass him on the trail. Izuku stopped, feeling the urgent pressure of Tokoyami's hand on his shoulder. "Midoriya," he said quietly, "Look. I don't think the cookie was really about the cookie..."

"So, what was it about?" Izuku leaned in, finding it difficult to keep his voice low with laboured breath. Tokoyami grabbed his water bottle from his pack. He drank deeply from it, thinking hard about his reply. Todoroki saw them stop, and slowed his pace for a few meters before giving up any pretense of courtesy and continuing on, keeping a comfortable lead ahead of them both. Izuku had to squint to see his silver jacket against the bright snow way up ahead. "Do you... think he hates me?"

Tokoyami shook his head. "Let me put it this way," he said, calmly replacing the cap on his bottle. "People don't tend to spend their entire day hanging around people they hate."

"Oh?"

Tokoyami made like he was going to say something else, but stopped himself short. "Just leave him be, ok? I still have some ski techniques to teach you both and I don't want this to turn into some huge deal."

Izuku nodded slowly. So Shoto didn't hate him? But he'd been avoiding him the whole hike! Izuku declined the offer of Tokoyami's water bottle and set off to catch up to Todoroki up the trail. What did he know, honestly? It's not like he'd spent his entire day with Todoroki hanging off his back, only to have him suddenly shift gears into bitterness over… what, exactly? Tokoyami wouldn't even tell him. He probably didn't even know.

Close, now. Only about 200 more meters to the peak.

"It was a dumb game and I should have listened!" Izuku mumbled within Todoroki's earshot as they paused near the top of the ridge, risking a look back at the tiny ski village far, far below. Everyone else were just tiny coloured dots sliding down the hills, if they were even visible at all. He'd never been this high up in his life, and he'd love to enjoy the exhilarating freedom of it all if it weren't for the bitter tension hiking silently in front of him.

"Todoroki, I said I was so- "

"Midoriya, stop. Please." Tokoyami's exasperated groan must have been heard around the valley as he dragged his hand down his exhausted beak.

Izuku bit his tongue.

"Look," Tokoyami said, pointing at the back of Shoto's head. "He hasn't said anything since we started, and you're not going to just wear him down like this. If he wants to stew, let him stew." Tokoyami then flicked a finger in Izuku's direction to drive the point home. "You're just being annoying."

"Sorry…" Izuku said, brushing away that hand. But what he really meant was, Sorry, Tokoyami. I've got to make this right.

* * *

The peak of the mountain wasn't exactly like a sharp needle reaching into the sky. It was more of a long ridge that stretched from northwest to the southeast, the boundaries of the trail outlined by fluorescent plastic markers and snow netting along the out of bounds areas. The far side of the mountain was a steep cliff, dropping hundreds of meters into rocks and forest, unlike the gently sloping bowl that held fresh piles of snow on the southern face. Signs around the area warned of loose snow and avalanches, cautioning skiers to be careful in their descent, lest they cause permanent damage to themselves or the delicate environment.

A tall bronze pole with a matching placard stating the altitude and founding of the resort stood out in the centre of the summit, reaching up towards the sun as lifeless prayer flags hung from loose strings in the beating sunlight and complete lack of any wind.

Mount Agamar Regional Park

2112m Elevation

Established - 1974

Let all who stand here know the beauty of nature

Todoroki stopped in front of it, reading the inscription about the park's founders while his fingers played with the little sun-bleached prayer flag strings. The summit was completely empty except for them. Maybe it wasn't so bad this way. Nobody here to trip Shoto up or make fun of them or report them to the park staff for improper quirk usage. Just a wide sweep of absolutely pristine powder snow ready to be worked by three sets of skis.

As he and Tokoyami climbed the last few steps, Izuku had a sudden breakthrough. He managed to get within five feet of Todoroki without the boy deciding to keep him at a constant distance of twenty paces. He still didn't say anything, but Izuku couldn't help but feel it was something of an improvement.

Tokoyami dropped his gear a few feet away from the elevation marker, unwrapping his scarf and tying it around his waist. Izuku too was feeling overheated from the effort of their hike; he tossed his head, shaking droplets of sweat from his bangs, and unzipped his coat as they stood atop the empty peak.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw. Again. Todoroki looking at him. Watching him stand there like a dolt, all hot and tired and more than ready to just strap in and ski down from Mount Awkward away from his stupid mistakes and social embarrassment. Izuku's eyes met Shoto's, and he didn't turn away like last time. Was he- did he actually want to talk? Tokoyami was busy getting his skis ready, so Izuku took the risk.

Like a child approaching a stray cat with food, he slowly, carefully, bridged the gap between the two of them. Shoto remained in place. Eyes still on him.

Izuku felt so far away, closing those last few feet to him, feeling the temperature around him drop, even as his palms sweat in his mitts and his mouth felt very, very dry. Shoto's gaze was still so unreadable even as he pulled back his hood and removed his scarf- soft alpaca wool dangling from a coat that probably cost more than all of Izuku's clothes in his closet.

And then he was there, standing in front of that handsome boy. Shoto said nothing.

"Hey," he tried one more time, waiting, gauging for Shoto's reaction. "Do you want me to just, um, ski down and leave you alone?"

" Yes, " Todoroki spat. Maybe a little too quickly, judging by his unsure expression. He winced, shaking his head. "No!" And then, "...Maybe. Ugh. No." Now he was waving his hands around his face in abstract gestures, trying to grasp at thoughts they both knew weren't quite there. "I- I want you to just-"

Izuku waited as Todoroki opened and clenched his fists several times, still unable to form a complete sentence. Waited for something, anything definitive. Todoroki's lips parted several more times until finally, Izuku couldn't wait any longer. "Well, then what do you want?"

Todoroki sighed. "God, you're annoying," he grumbled, backing up another couple feet up the trail.

Izuku's gut plummeted. He was fucking things up again. He didn't want to fuck things up again. He made another half step towards Shoto until-

He stopped short. He couldn't move. His boot was completely frozen to the ground, layers of ice quickling forming themselves up and around his ankle. Not enough to keep him there, but clearly a warning. Izuku sighed. He wrenched his footing out of the ice but kept his distance.

Shoto's gaze remained at Izuku's feet. "Can you just stop invading someone else's business for half a second?" He relaxed his right hand slightly, slipping it back in his pocket. "I get it. You care. You want to be a good person."

Of course he did. Izuku hated the idea of someone staying mad at him. At this pint he'd do pretty much anything for Todoroki to stop being mad at him. "So just... throw a punch and get it over with!"

"What?" Shoto's blue-grey eyes shot up to meet his own, wide with surprise and mixed disgust. "Are you- No!"

"Why not?" Izuku shrugged, "If you're so mad why won't you just… hit me?"

"Midoriya that's the dumbest-" Torodoki sputtered, looking desperately over at Tokoyami for backup. "Because I try not to hit the people I- l care about! Because nobody should-"

Izuku glanced over his shoulder at Tokoyami who was pulling out his phone, seemingly determined not to get involved. Shoto bristled, now very alone in his accusation. He forced his voice down into something calmer, slower. "...Who taught you that, anyway?"

Izuku shrugged again. "That's what Kacchan would do, ever since we were kids. Just throw a punch and be done with it!"

"And I'm not Bakugou. " Shoto reeled in disgust. "Jesus, your relationships are about as fucked up as mine..." His stance shifted now, no longer threatening retreat. He took a calculated step towards Izuku, all four inches of extra height used to their fullest advantage. "You know, earlier, Midoriya. On the slopes; you talk a lot of shit about toxic masculinity for someone who thinks hitting can just solve his problems."

Intimidation, huh? So now Shoto was going to turn it on him for being a bad ski partner? Fuck that.

"You're one to talk!" Izuku shot back. "At least it's better than ignoring someone without even telling them what they did wrong or why you're mad! And anyway, I didn't wanna play the stupid game in the first place! You made me!"

"No, I didn't!" Shoto's voice was raising above his own level of comfort again, that evident spike of anger he'd been fighting so hard to conceal cracking his deep tenor. "I asked if you wanted to play," he closed the final gap between them, jabbing his finger in Izuku's in chest. "-And then you went ahead and said dare ."

That- felt unfair. Here he was trying to make amends and Shoto was standing there playing revisionist history instead of just accepting an offered apology. It stung. "I just wanted us all to have fun," Izuku said, not even pretending to hide the defensive tone in his voice. "Instead of just sitting and staring out the window for twenty goddamn minutes! You know, fun? Ever heard of it?"

Shoto's finger retreated away from Izuku's vicinity. "Fuck off, Midoriya."

And yet, somehow, Izuku just wasn't done. "Shoto, what is your fucking problem?"

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:15**

 **[Tokoyami-kun, how goes it? ^^]**

Todoroki's face contorted into an ugly scowl. "Problem?" He spat, tiny sparks flickering around his left ear. "My problem is you! I told you I wasn't going to do your stupid dare, and you didn't listen! You! You can't just force someone to do whatever you want," he sneered, "or did you also learn that from the 'School of Bakugou'?"

Izuku wasn't going to take a low blow. "Leave Kacchan out of this!" His cheeks felt hot now, and not because of the glaring sunlight overhead.

Todoroki stood his ground. "Stop defending him! He's a dick to you, and you're a dick to other people because of it."

"I am not!" Izuku pushed back, very aware that Shoto had the easy ability to stop him in his tracks. "And what's the big fucking matter? It's a cookie! My mom made it! I wasn't like I was asking you to strip naked and dance in front of me or whatever!"

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:15**

 **[Pls I want to die.]**

Shoto's face flushed and his eyes widened like saucers for a fraction of a second; utterly bewildered, before he quickly recomposed himself. He made an awkward fake cough, an excuse to cover his face momentarily and wipe away his flustered colour.

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:15**

 **[Ohnoes D: why?]**

 **[You seemed fine at lunch?]**

"That's- not the point!" he stuttered, caught off guard but not yet ready to back down. "Maybe don't shove it in someone's face that they don't have a nice fucking mom who does that kind of nice shit and sends her love, ok?" Shoto kicked violently at the snow around him, and a puff of white powder exploded under his boot, gently falling down the south face of the mountainside.

"That was Kirishima!"

"I don't care!" Todoroki shouted. "You were both doing it!"

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:16**

 **[I think they might be having**

 **their first fight...]**

"I wasn't trying to upset you, dude!"

"No! You don't get it!" Todoroki slammed another soft drift of snow with his boot. "This is exactly what I didn't want to have happen! Everything is all... fucked up now, because of your stupid cookies! "

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:16**

 **[WHAT?]**

"It's not that big of a big deal!"

" Oh! " Shoto snorted. "Not a big deal? Oh no! Not to you , maybe!" He waved his arms dramatically overhead, every word dripping with venomous sarcasm. "Hey! Hey Tokoyami! Hey, everybody else on this fucking mountain! My name is Izuku Midoriya and my mom fucking loves me and hugs me every goddamn day and we cook dinner every night together and she doesn't fucking throw boiling water on me and we're the fucking best! "

Well, Tokoyami was right about one thing. The cookie really wasn't about the cookie.

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:17**

 **[They were fine and now**

 **they're yelling at each other**

 **on top of a mountain]**

"And you know what?" Shoto continued on his rant, now pacing around Izuku in a tight, angry circle; all gritted teeth and clenched fists as his soft alpaca scarf dangled and threatened to fall from his neck, "I, Izuku Midoriya, get to do whatever I want after school! I have absolute fucking freedom! I can go to movies and play video games and buy All Might toys and I don't have to count calories or eat keto or burn my own fucking quirk out night and day just to maintain my dad's insane fucking standards!" Wow!" he screamed, the spittle from his words landing on Izuku's cheek with each angry syllable, " life must be awesome! "

It was official now. Shoto Todoroki had lost his goddamn mind. Izuku held his ground, refusing to be intimidated by this melodramatic outburst from the most reserved boy at school. It was as if Shoto were vomiting out fifteen years of bottled emotions all at once, all at Izuku, all over a fucking cookie. It wasn't pleasant, and it certainly wasn't fair.

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:17**

 **[WHY?]**

 **[What happened?**

 **What's it about?]**

Fortunately, Shoto seemed to have winded himself with that last effort and had to pause for breath; and maybe come up with a few more reasons Izuku was at the heart of all his personal problems. He wiped the spit off the side of his mouth, shaking his head.

This was supposed to be an apology. They were supposed to make up and be friends. Izuku wasn't quite sure when or where it turned sour, but now he was so beyond even wanting to get back into this asshole's good graces. Who did he think he was?

"Hey, you know what?" Izuku stepped into Shoto's path, blocking his frenzied pacing. "You wanna talk about flaunting, Mr Brand New fucking Olympic Gear? Take a look in the mirror!" He grabbed Shoto by the wrist, knowing full well the boy would immediately wrench it back, and back up a few more paces just to put more distance between them.

"Hey everyone," he said, imitating Shoto's mocking tone of voice, " I'm Shoto Todoroki! My family's famous! I'll never have to worry about making a name for myself as a hero! I've got my entire future paved in gold ahead of me! And on top of that? I'm super rich! What? Bills? Tuition fees? Never heard of those ! Look at my fucking smartwatch, everybody! Look at my skis I've never used before and will probably never use again! I'll never sit outside my mom's bedroom at night listening to her stress about paying rent!"

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:17**

 **[First off I LITERALLY told**

 **Midoriya to fuck off and leave**

 **him alone like not ten minutes**

 **ago]**

Shoto bent down, digging his hand into a pile of fresh snow. "That's because I don't have a mom to do that. "

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:17**

 **[But ok nvm...]**

"Seriously, dude?" Izuku spat, chest heaving with indignation. "Seriously? Fuck you! No! You know exactly what I'm talking about!"

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:18**

 **[u know he can't]**

Izuku could feel his throat tightening, and his eyes blurred and stung. Great. Now he was getting choked up. Standing at the top of a mountain arguing, and now he was gonna cry. He needed space. He needed to breathe. He turned away from Shoto, towards the edge of the mountainside, staring down into the valley far below.

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:18**

 **[I mean I KNOW but]**

Shoto, Mr Top Tier, clearly didn't understand, much less care about the lesser students at UA like himself. Even with All Might's help, Izuku was still crushingly average in so many ways. Average in looks, unable to get the attention of the girl he liked. Average in his classes, unable to get full control of his quirk and far from his goal of becoming the top hero like his mentor and idol.

And, yeah, in his social standing, too. They weren't broke, but him and his mom certainly didn't have money to throw around like the Todoroki family. What would she think, of this guy, standing here in his brand new coat, insulting her cooking? She worked so damn hard to support her son and his dreams. He'd be absolutely nowhere without her. Wouldn't even have a coat on his back.

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:19**

 **[*le sigh*]**

"You're rich, dude," he said, more to the wide valley in front of him than anyone else. "Even without your mom. Not everybody can afford a bunch of new stuff every time they go on a school trip, y'know." His fingers played with the tab on the bottom of his zipper andthe ski pass dangling from it. "Some of us can barely afford to go! Like, I'm literally wearing my mom's old pink coat that everyone fucking hates for some reason-"

"I said it looked FINE! "

Izuku spun around. "That everyone ELSE hates for some reason!"

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:19**

 **[It started out with Midoriya**

 **invading Todoroki's personal**

 **space on the lift and triggering**

 **his eating disorder]**

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:20**

 **[Uh oh]**

 **[And now Todoroki is stuck**

 **being emotionally constipated**

 **And pushing Deku away when**

 **he tries to get close?]**

"Look, you-" Shoto tore off his gloves, fumbling in his agitation. "You want my fucking watch? Here-" he finally slipped it off, holding it up in front of him, a shining symbol of Todoroki wealth. "Midoriya, I would trade a billion fucking watches to have homemade cookies stuffed into my coat! Here you go, Deku! You can HAVE it!"

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:20**

 **[Bingo.]**

Todoroki threw his watch full-force at Izuku's head. And he probably would have hit him if he were not so blindingly upset. And if the wind had not suddenly gusted up in that moment, blowing the watch clear past Izuku's left ear, to plummet down the cliff, bouncing off of jagged rocks until it completely disappeared into the snow far below.

Izuku stared at the tiny spot where the watch might have been.

Shoto stared at Izuku.

"Well I guess nobody is getting a watch, now..." Tokoyami muttered, shaking his head.

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:21**

 **[I thought taking them**

 **to the peak would be more**

 **Peaceful. Somehow.]**

"Stupid," Izuku said. "Proves my point anyway. Nobody poor would just throw something like that away." What a nightmare to deal with. Quiet and bottled up or completely unhinged. Shoto Todoroki had two options and Izuku found himself liking neither of them, right now. If this was what being friends with him was like, no wonder he was such a loner at school. "You know, Shoto, I feel bad for the person you like. Because they're in for a real winner with your passive-aggressive ass..."

Todoroki's scream echoed through the valley. " WELL I CERTAINLY DON'T FUCKING LIKE YOU ANYMORE! "

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:23**

 **[You know, part of me**

 **thinks this is my fault]**

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:23**

 **[Do you think I should have**

 **just told Midoriya about**

 **Todoroki when he asked?]**

"What...?"

"...What?"

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:24**

 **[I mean, that's a tough situation.**

 **Because it's important to respect**

 **Todoroki's privacy]**

That cold wind that had so suddenly sprung up died away, carrying Shoto's response with it. The two boys paused under the afternoon sun and the only sound for several moments was Tokoyami's fingers tapping at his phone.

What did he say? ... Like? You? Todoroki meant… friends, right? Because someone like him- someone rich and handsome and smart and stupidly better than him would never… Izuku lost his train of thought. What was Shoto doing? His right hand unclenched and something small and white and round was forming inside of it.

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:24**

 **[He told you about his**

 **feelings in confidence]**

Unlike the watch, Todoroki's snowball hit its mark with deadly accuracy, cold snow exploding on the side of Izuku's head, knocking him silly as icy water dripped down his neck and Shoto Todoroki had the absolute gaul to start forming a second.

"You wanted a fight, Midoriya?" He smoothed the perfect tennis-ball sized sphere in his hands with his forefinger and thumb. "Congratulations, now you get one!"

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:24**

 **[Hmm...]**

 **[True]**

That was it. Apologies were over. Diplomacy was dead and buried. This was an act of war! Spurred into action, Izuku drew on as much strength as he could without activating his quirk to scoop handfuls of snow into whatever hasty projectile weapons he could. He packed them tight, thankful that the heat of the day had made the snow prime for sticking. Ice chunks? No, never. That was against the rules.

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:25**

 **[Oh boy]**

 **[Now they're both being**

 **dumb pissbabies]**

 **[Therapy time]**

He flung his snowballs full-force, more quantity than quality as his opponent easily sent up a barricade of ice in front of him. With Todoroki, Izuku was at a tactical disadvantage when it came to fighting with ice. He didn't care. He'd already proven he was strong enough to go head to head. Shoto started this whole mess, and now, well, just like the sports festival, he wasn't going to back down.

"ASS!" he screamed, chucking a ball as hard as he could at Todoroki's barricade. It hit the ice with a mighty wallop, taking a good few inches off the top, and running a deep crack to its base.

"BITCH!" erupted from behind the wall.

So. Shoto's defenses weren't completely unassailable.

Izuku didn't have too much time to celebrate, as a sudden round of return fire pelted him, and Izuku realised he had no fortification of his own. Chunks of snow and ice flew at him and Izuku dove behind the bronze altitude marker, taking shelter while Todoroki switched to an offensive assault.

"DOUBLE-ASS!"

Izuku kept himself low to the ground, heart pounding, while Tokoyami casually wandered a few feet away from the area of combat, lest a civilian get caught up in the crossfire.

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:27**

 **[They both certainly**

 **have a way with words]**

"DUMB!"

"FLAMING SHITQUIRK!"

What would All Might do in this situation? Probably not this, Izuku thought, as he hucked another volley of snow in Todoroki's direction. He'd probably take the high road and laugh away all the insults, acting as a paragon of peace and hope. Yeah. All that.

Good thing All Might wasn't here right now.

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:27**

 **[They're still yelling at each other?]**

"LOSERFACE!"

"DICKFUCK!"

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:28**

 **[It's like poetry...]**

His tactics were scorched-earth. Making snowballs using his quirk proved too inefficient for Warmachine Todoroki. He'd sculpt great swathes of drift into round of ammunition, turning what was once a well-trodden pathway into a no-man's land of icy pockmarks. Every so often Shoto paused to dredge up a new area of snow to throw at Izuku, and that was when he launch his counterattack.

Izuku did his best to keep up, having only two hands and far too much determination for any one person. He backed further and further behind his bronze trail marker, looking for anything within reach.

It was when Izuku suddenly realised that he was out of usable snow that he began to panic. Shoto must have noticed, because his torrent of self-made snowballs had ended as well. The air became tense and quiet. He couldn't possibly hope for a truce? Not when Shoto had such an easy, never ending supply of snow.

No. That wasn't it. Shoto had stopped firing at him to form what Izuku could only describe as a snow-based weapon of mass destruction. The snow boulder was twice the size of his head and Shoto carried it like it was a real bomb, slowly closing the distance between them.

Tokoyami rolled his eyes, standing up from the drift he'd been leaning against and moving about ten feet further away.

He was out of ammo. And now, Izuku realised, he was trapped. Shoto had accounted for all contingencies, refreezing Izuku to the ground. His boots, his knees, the ice slowly creeping up his legs to his waist, now. He couldn't move. He could use his quirk, but he didn't want to risk breaking his leg on top of the mountain with no way to get down.

Closer now, he lurched, hoisting the giant boulder above his head; Shoto's steely gaze puncturing a terrifying black silhouette against the sunlight. Icy water pooling at the bottom of the snow boulder dripped. Once. Twice. Splashing down into Izuku's open jacket as Shoto Todoroki towered over him, ready to forgo all the rules.

"Hey! N-No!" Izuku squirmed as the ice around his legs and waist tightened like a python. "Th-that's illegal!" He flailed helplessly. "Nobody said slushballs, Shoto!"

This was a war crime!

"Get dunked on, Midoriya..."

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:30**

 **[Wow]**

"You- You can't do this! That's- That's cheating, Shoto! Remember what Momo said about hypothermia! Wet is dead! Wet is d-" Nothing in Izuku's words made an impression on Shoto. And the boy brought down his arms, for one swift, final blow.

"Then PERISH! "

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:31**

 **[pls send help]**

 **[or a swift death]**

 **[either one is fine]**

 **[pls]**

The chunk of soaked snow crashed down upon Izuku, cold water drenching his already sweat-soaked body. The shock of cold ice slamming his face and chest winded him, causing him to sputter and cough as he desperately brushed the loose slushy snow away and wiped at the crystal flakes stinging his eyes.

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:32**

 **[I'd ask Kyoka to go, but**

 **I don't know where she went]**

There he was, staring up at the boy who'd spent his whole day with him, riding the bus with him, eating with him, laughing and joking with him. They'd even clowned around in the snow halfway down the mountain before lunch, but… not like this. This was cold. No, well, it was snow. This was… mean.

And Shoto gazed back down at him, blue-gray eyes nothing more than cruel narrow slits as his right hand bristled with frosty power, ready to do serious damage. Shoto held his palm out, facing him down, and waited.

And he waited.

And his nose wrinkled, and his eyes grew red, and screwed up and he just couldn't keep his lips together between tiny heaving gasps.

That first hot tear rolled down his chin, splashing on Izuku's cheek, melding with the leftover water from the slushbomb, melding with his own.

 **Rvlry+Dark - sent 3:35**

 **[fck]**

 **[omg brb]**

 **[i think hes crying now]**

This was... stupid. And they both realised it. Shoto lowered his hand, sinking to his knees beside Izuku, head hanging in shame and exhaustion. And he cried. Not very loud, not nearly as dramatic as he'd been acting before. No. He just sat there and cried while Izuku sat beside him and shivered and watched.

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:36**

 **[Who, Deku?]**

 **[He always cries]**

"I'm not the kind of person who cries a lot…" he said finally, vocal chords fluttering with choked up emotion. "I knew I was going to after we started, but I didn't want you to see."

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:36**

 **[Who?]**

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:36**

 **[Toko?]**

 **Yaomomo / Creation - received 3:36**

 **[?]**

Shoto reached over for his abandoned glove, the one laying half-buried under one of Izuku's stray snowballs. He picked it up with his left hand, and steam began to curl off of it, moisture evaporating from the gentle heat radiating from his palm. He then placed his hand on the ground, and Izuku felt the pressure crushing him release. Water streamed out and around him as Izuku wrenched his legs free from their trap and sat up. He was soaked through, now, but it didn't matter. He was warm enough, and, well, that just wasn't the point right now.

Shoto's eyeline hovered somewhere along Izuku's boots when he wasn't gazing out at the huge mostly pristine mountainside they hadn't yet explored. He touched his cheek, red and evidently sore from one good shot Izuku had made earlier.

"I didn't want to eat the cookies because I knew I'd be stuck back there crying about it," He began, quietly at first. More tears flowed, and he made little attempt to stem them. "And... you'd all be asking me what's wrong and what the fuck am I supposed to say?"

Izuku tried to think of an answer before Shoto continued.

"That I'm not allowed to fucking eat food that isn't listed in some weird book in my dad's office? And it's become so normal to me that I just don't think about it? That my family is wealthier than most students at UA combined and I've never been on a fucking vacation before?"

He shook his head, burying his face in his hands. Izuku wanted so badly to… touch him in some way. Put a hand on him, just to show he cared. His fingers felt numb, and maybe it was the cold and maybe it wasn't. He settled for his knee. It felt less condescending than the shoulder.

"I just... can't." he groaned into his palms. "Not here, not today. God damn. Today was supposed to be a nice fucking day where you and I got to hang out. I was looking forward to it, Midoriya. I considered myself lucky to be with you! I guess not…"

That last note, it wasn't as bitter as Izuku had expected. Shoto sniffled his runny nose, and Izuku fished in his pockets only to dredge up a soaked and tattered tissue. Useless, like he was at comforting people, apparently. Shoto brushed him aside.

"I'm sorry," Shoto sighed. "I'm just… I'm really tired. I didn't get any sleep last night because I was so nervous about today and skiing and... Everything about this place just constantly reminds me of…" his gaze wandered away from where they were sitting, not to the mountainside, but to some distant vision deep in his own mind. "Things I can't really deal with."

"I'm sorry…"

Todoroki elbowed him gently. "Stop apologizing. You've said sorry so much already it's lost its meaning."

"Then what do you-?"

He shrugged. "Just tell me why you did it. Why you wouldn't back down what with the cookie thing."

Shit. Well. Izuku cleared his throat. Finally, a chance to make things right. He wasn't going to fuck things up this time!

"Ok," he began slowly, "if it doesn't work, I won't keep saying sorry." Shoto nodded. "I just… It was dumb, ok? I'll admit it straight up. Back in the lift I got really excited. And I was stupid. I just wanted to fit in with the other guys and what they were doing. And maybe even impress you. -All of you! I mean!"

Shoto quirked a curious brow at him.

"I dunno. I thought you might actually enjoy breaking away from your routines for once…"

Shoto relaxed his shoulders and Izuku saw, really saw for the first time, the tiredness in in his eyes he'd been trying to hide. Guilt washed over him. He'd hurt Shoto somewhere far deeper than some schoolyard slight. Without even knowing it. Their parents, their lives. They really were opposites in some ways.

"I'm sorry about your dad and everything-" He quickly bit his tongue. "Ugh. No! Not sorry. I mean-"

"It's fine."

"I didn't know food was this big deal for you."

"...Yeah…" Shoto ran a hand through his hair. "I'm- trying to get over it. It's hard. He's ground it in pretty solid." He waited a moment, looking like he was about to bounce on his heels and stand up. But then-

"Give me the cookie." He held out his extended palm.

Izuku blinked at him. "You sure?"

Shoto looked him dead in the eye. "Do you want me to eat it or not?"

"I don't-" Izuku choked. He paused, thinking about what his rushed, selfish behaviour had done today. "...I actually don't want you to do anything you're uncomfortable with."

He sighed. Shoto nodded.

"I'm, uh, I'm sorry about what I said about you and Bakugou." his hand slipped back into his pocket. "I don't know your history, and, maybe it's not my business…" He sounded like he wasn't sure he should be saying what he was.

"Yeah?"

"Sometimes it just seems like he's... not really your friend."

"I mean," Izuku shrugged, trying to muster up a laugh. "He may be rough around the edges, but we go way back."

"Yeah," Shoto replied, unconvinced. "I hear you. I just think," he wiped his nose on his sleeve, "maybe… you deserve- I dunno. Nevermind."

Maybe Shoto might have finished his sentence if Tokoyami hadn't put his phone away, deciding that it was safe enough to approach the two of them now that they'd called a ceasefire on their petty bickering. He stood over them, elbows crossed like a disappointed babysitter.

"Are you both done being stupid pissbabies yet?"

"Uh." "Mostly, yeah…"

"Good. Get your skis on. We need to get back before Midoriya gets chills. The sun may be out now, but it'll be gone in a of couple hours and I don't want to be stuck out here, late for dinner, with a classmate suffering from hypothermia."

Izuku laughed and slapped Shoto on the back. "I guess Todoroki here will have to huddle me for warmth!"

Tokoyami muttered something inaudible while Todoroki looked like he'd swallowed broken glass.

Izuku only realized how badly he was shivering when he stood up and made his way towards his skis. His toes and fingertips were numb, and the rest of his body was vibrating powerfully with every breath. Not too big of a deal, he just needed to get some blood flowing. He'd be fine. He clumsily secured himself into his skis, taking twice as long as other two boys, and refusing any help.

"The sunlight sure is bright," he said, windmilling his arms and trying to get some warmth going. This was undercut by the fact he could barely pronounce his words while his teeth chattered away involuntarily. Tokoyami

"My dark shadow doesn't appreciate the glare, but at least this are in uncrowded, and there's less noise. Be careful, though. There's been a lot of snowfall recently, and the temperature has spiked today. It makes the snow pack unstable, especially above the treeline. However, as long as you're careful-"

Tokoyami stopped short. They weren't alone- Not any longer. One lone figure had just peaked his way over the ridge. Completely shirtless and carrying his snowboard on his shoulder, Katsuki Bakugou strode into view.

"Finally! Found you losers! Who's ready to race- Dude, are you crying? "


End file.
